Rumor: HD DVD / Walmart Deal May Not Exist!

 

Okay, just to add another wrinkle to an already massively confused story.

As has been reported all over the internet this week, Engadget got ahold of a press release, apparently from Chinese manufacturer Fuh Yuan indicating that Walmart had placed an order for 2,000,000 HD DVD players, which was then later retracted due to an odd translation, and many then thought that Walmart was ordering Blu-ray players. What remained odd was that no press release was ever issued by Walmart, the HD DVD or Blu-ray promotions groups, or anyone else who would be involved. Fuh Yuan also failed to clarify this "story" and industry "insiders" posting on internet messageboards had no idea what was happening.

A CED Industry Newsletter is now apparently reporting the following:

Sources we queried who are familiar with HD DVD licensing and Chinese OEMs were flummoxed by the reports. Neither Fuh Yuan nor Great Wall appear on any rosters of DVD and HD DVD licensees. Our search of major English-language newspapers and news services in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong didn't turn up any reports on Fuh Yuan or Great Wall or the purported deal with Wal-Mart. From translations of the Fuh Yuan announcement we've seen, it was part of a ramp-up for an IPO the company will launch in July.

And now Engadget has posted a retraction of the earlier article:

The biggest news to hit the format war in some time hit last week with word that Wal-Mart and China's Great Wall corporation struck a deal to bring inexpensive HD DVD players to market. While this is would be great news for all HD fans, we were left a bit worrisome by the translation dispute between the two camps. Just to make sure we had our facts straight, we updated the post and contacted HD DVD to get the full story. While the HD DVD camp reminded us that they have inexpensive players from China on the way, they weren't able to confirm any "specific reports relating to Wal-Mart". It seems to us that if this were indeed true, that the HD DVD camp would be the first to trumpet its significance to their success in the format war. As much as we all want inexpensive next generation HD disc players, we will just have to wait for something more official before we hold off on our purchases waiting for Wal-Mart.

So, who knows what's going on with this? As much attention as this has gotten, it really doesn't bode well for the integrity of Engadget that they've essentially retracted this story twice: once to say it "might" be Blu-ray players, and now a second time saying the whole deal might not exist.
Could this release have been the optimistic writings of a pre-IPO Chinese company that HOPES to get enough money in an IPO to produce HD DVD players, which they THINK they can make very cheaply, and that they HOPE to sell to Walmart? That's definitely a different story, altogether.

It certainly doesn't sound like Walmart is willing to declare HD DVD the victor at all in this battle.  Given that currently they sell 2 Blu-ray players (the PS3 and the Philips BD-P900) as well as one Blu-ray PC burner (the Lite-on LH-2B1S), yet only carry the clearance Toshiba D1 HD DVD player, nothing on their side seems to indicate an HD DVD preference.

In my opinion, Walmart will be nearly a non-issue in the "format wars," just as their entire electronics section is losing money and marketshare to stores that sell a much better product at a sllightly higher price.  Even if Walmart does start to sell a cheap HD DVD and/or Blu-ray player they will still cost more than someone who shops in Walmar'ts electronics department is willing to pay (especially since they'll be sitting next to $29 DVD players).  Add to that Walmart's total lack of salespeople to explain what the heck a HD DVD or Blu-ray player is, and its seems that Walmart isn't in much position to realy propel either format to the victory line.

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