Blu-ray Gets a Blockbuster Boost

Last week I promised myself I was going to ease up on my reports about the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war, because I always come to the same conclusion: it's all rather silly.

But I have to admit I am endlessly fascinated by the ways in which the HD DVD and Blu-ray camps spar over who's winning at any given time. It usually comes down to who's sold the greater share of software or hardware, but both of these assume that all things are equal, and unless it's a complete rout the data's only good for theorizing as to why consumers pick one or the other. Things get really interesting when something precipitates or accelerates a slide one way or the other, and that can sometimes come about due to a third party -- usually one that controls access in some way.

We may be seeing just such a tipping point now. Blockbuster has announced that over the next month, they will be expanding their Blu-ray movie rentals. Up until now, 250 stores in the chain have been carrying both formats; by mid-July, 1,700 stores will have more than 170 Blu-ray titles. Why? Because they had significantly more Blu-ray rentals than HD DVD.

Of course, Blockbuster isn't quite the powerhouse it used to be, but it's still a major enough player that you might want to bookmark this posting for when you get into chicken-and-egg debates in the future.