Toshiba announced this morning that it has applied for membership of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) with plans to soon bring out products supporting the Blu-ray format.
Toshiba was originally the main supporter behind the now defunct HD DVD (high definition DVD) disc format that was in competition with Blu-ray until big entertainment companies including Warner Bros threw their lot in with Blu-ray leaving Toshiba to admit defeat.
Toshiba said that recent developments in products supporting the Blu-ray format combined with rising consumer and retailer demand for the optical disc format, has led the company to decide that joining the BDA would be a good choice.
Without giving a timeline Toshiba did say that it plans to introduce digital products that support the Blu-ray format, including BD players and notebook PCs integrating BD drives, in the course of this year so we should expect Toshiba Blu-ray players on the market before Christmas 2009.