By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
In a move to cut costs for the expansion of the next-generation storage market, Samsung and LG Electronics have ended their production of disc players that can play both Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies.
``Since February this year, we have no longer been producing combo players that support the playback of HD-DVD and Blu-ray high-definition discs,’’ a spokesperson from Samsung Electronics told The Korea Times, Monday.
He added a dramatic change in the business circumstances surrounding the next-generation storage devices since the beginning of this year has made it necessary for the company to make a ``swift’’ decision on the matter.
In November last year, Samsung commercialized its ``BD-UP5000’’ combo HD disc player for U.S. consumers as a ``litmus-test.’’
Industry experts said the decision had cost the Blu-ray alliance member 10 billion won as the Korean IT giant had been increasing its budget for the player over the past two years.
On a question over financial damages after folding the business, the official said the company still needs more time to exactly estimate its losses as it has yet to finish calculating the effect of the withdrawal from the business.
