The contest between the competing next - generation ocular magnetic disc engineering of Blu - ray and HD DVD has entered a fresh stage , as opthalmic drive maker depart rolling out the first products based on the rival engineering . As product based on these formatting start out to get in in fund , one major question for Mac users is : When will Apple mix this unexampled technology into its computers ?

The head is more than just groundless speculation . Apple enjoys a long data track record of adopt issue technologies — conceive FireWire , Bluetooth , and wireless networking , among others — and incorporate them into its offering . Also take that Apple is on the instrument panel of directors for the Blu - ray Disc Association , and it ’s not heavy to envision a future where Macs are sporting Blu - ray - base drives .

As with any next product , Apple is hold open its plans for Blu - ray under wrapper . But diligence analysts do n’t think we ’ll have long to look before Apple put a Blu - ray drive in an Intel - based Mac .

The most probable prospect ? The as - yet unreleased automobile that will replace the Power Mac as Apple ’s professional background oblation .

“ Apple ’s past practices favor bringing new optical technologies to professional systems first , ” say Jupiter Research fourth-year analyst Joe Wilcox . “ DVD - RAM and DVD - radius formats are excellent instance . ”

Ross Rubin , director of psychoanalysis at securities industry - enquiry house NPD Group , agrees that Apple will work with the professional machines first . However , noting that Intel - based pro screen background have yet to appear , he predicts Blu - beam of light drive wo n’t wind up in Apple system for a few more months .

“ January would be good — the timing for that would operate out pretty well , ” Rubin say . “ It comes down to the introduction bike , but we would see it in desktops first , no dubiousness . ”

Behind the format feud

Blu - beam and HD videodisc are compete optical disc formats aimed at storing declamatory amounts of gamy - definition telecasting . The competition between the two standards pits some of the biggest ship’s company in the engineering industry against one another .

Blu - light beam is supported by consumer electronics vendors Sony and Panasonic as well as PC vendors Dell and Apple . HD DVD is backed by Toshiba , NEC , Intel , and Microsoft .

The Apple suffer H.264 technology is part of the technical specification for both Blu - beam and the vie HD videodisk format that trust to beat out Blu - ray as the industry monetary standard .

For the winner comes the spoil of being the industry standard and having acceptance from movie studios and supplies — which translates to bigger sales . And since the formats are not compatible the loser could easy drop out of the consumer market place , much like what happened to the Betamax video cassette format when it lost out to VHS in the 1980s .

Toshiba lead off selling two HD DVD player in North America in April , beat rival Blu - electron beam Disc to commercialize by about two months . speak in late May , a Toshiba administrator said sales event in North America were above 20,000 . Samsung start shipping its Blu - ray of light writer in mid - June and BenQ has said it will ship its Blu - ray author in August .

The impact on Apple

One drawback of the current formatting war between HD DVD and Blu - beam for the supporting companies is the confusedness it causes in the grocery . Many hoi polloi may hold off on buy products sporting either format until a clear winner has been establish .

For that reason , Technology Business Research aged psychoanalyst Tim Deal believes Apple will shy by from adding a Blu - ray of light optical drive to any of its consumer Macs . “ [ The format war ] will cause confusion in the market which will at long last mean slow banker’s acceptance of the technologies in the consumer market place , ” he said .

But that does n’t have in mind Apple will head off adopting Blu - irradiation until after the Mary Jane clears in the format fight , analysts add . “ Apple is an active player in the Blu - ray pool , and they did n’t let the last format state of war between DVD- and DVD+ stop them from moving ahead with the drive , ” NPD Group ’s Rubin said . “ I do n’t see them hurry to corroborate both — typically Apple hold up one and they brook it well . ”

appear for Apple to pursue the same playbook it used in add together DVD - combust SuperDrives to its hardware lineup : pro - level machines first , followed by consumer offerings . The reason for that strategy , Rubin said , has much to do with minimize the price of adopting new engineering .

“ One reason Apple been capable to introduce new technology at relative small price has to do with cost reductions , ” Rubin append . “ In DVD write they were very good at timing — they made a loudness purchase play and introduce the drives at a comparatively low price compared to what had been available . I see them assume that approach with Blu - ray . ”