TOSHIBA LEAVES MPEG-2 OUT OF DVD-ROM NOTEBOOK GIVING IBM AND PANASONIC AN ADVANTAGE
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09/08/97
Multimedia Week
(c) 1997 Phillips Business Information, Inc.
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Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. will make a DVD-ROM drive available for the company's Tecra 750CDT in November, but the company isn't including an MPEG-2 decoder in the notebook.
The misstep could give IBM Corp. [IBM] an advantage. The ThinkPad manufacturer will have a DVD-ROM drive and MPEG-2 video adapter available for the company's model 770 later this month - more than a month before Toshiba will begin offering a drive. Panasonic PC Co. also is offering a notebook with DVD-ROM and MPEG-2 (see MMW, Sept. 1, p.1.)
Toshiba officials said they will offer an MPEG-2 decoder for notebooks but would not say when.
Toshiba's half-baked DVD initiative comes on the heels of a difficult second quarter in which the company' portable PC market share in the United States dropped by about 6 percent from the first quarter for a share of 19 percent, according to Dataquest. During that period, IBM's share grew about 1 percent to roughly 14 percent of the U.S. market. Fujitsu PC Co., Hitachi PC Co. and Gateway 200 Inc. [GATE] also ate into Toshiba's share, said Dataquest analyst Mike McGuire.
IBM expects most buyers of the DVD-enabled ThinkPad 770 will use the drive for storage purposes but is making the video adapter available because "there are some customers who want DVD and MPEG-2 on day one," said Dan Lowden, ThinkPad marketing manager. "We know we'll have a competitive advantage."
IBM and Toshiba were expected to announce new notebooks incorporating Intel Corp.'s [INTC] latest 233 MHz mobile Pentium processor with MMX, on Sept. 8.
IBM's Take on MPEG-2
IBM is using Toshiba's slimline DVD drive in the ThinkPad 770 initially and is looking at a second source. For the company's MPEG-2 video adapter, the company is using chips from IBM Microelectronics and manufacturing the peripheral in house. In addition to decoding capabilities, the adapter will offer video capture and an audio output for connection to an external AC-3 decoer.
"It gives you a lot of flexibility that you won't see in our competitors' products," Lowden said.
IBM expects the video adapter to sell for about $400 but was unsure about the DVD drive's price. Toshiba executives haven't finalized pricing for their DVD drive but they expect customers will pay about a $500 premium for it.
One product distinction Toshiba can claim is a digital camera that uses a Zoom Video port for image capture. Measuring about 4 inches long and an inch wide, the hardware works with software Toshiba licensed exclusively from VideoBrush and functions like a scanner. Users can move the camera across an image, digitize it and import it into the PC. (IBM, 800/426-3333; Toshiba, 714/583-3000.) |
