Sony has announced this weekend that they will be discontinuing all sales of the 3.5-inch floppy disc in Japan starting in 2011, effectively killing off the three decade old disk type.
The company helped pioneer the disk in 1981, introducing the technology that year and then starting to sell the discs in 1983.
At its height in the year 2000, Sony shipped 47 million disks, but that number has progressively fallen, reaching just 8.5 million in 2009. However, that also begs the question, why were so many floppies shipped even in 2009 and who is still using them?
Sony holds 70 percent of the Japanese market share for the disks, compared to around 40 percent globally.
The company cited lack of demand as the main reasoning behind the decision, given the cheap prices of much smaller and higher capacity devices, like USB flash drives.
Result for: japanese market
Toshiba Corp.’s first television to feature the Cell processor (also used with the PlayStation 3 console) is on track for its intended release this year. The product is to hit the Japanese market first in Q4 2009. The company first promised a Cell-based TV in 2007 and then showed off a prototype at CES 2008 in Las Vegas.
Toshiba said it uses the Cell processor to provide exceptionally high-quality video playback, picture upscaling and picture-in-picture (PIP) functionality capable to extend to dozens of channels simultaneously.
Masaaki Oosumi, President of Toshiba’s Digital Media Network Company, confirmed that the TV with market under the company’s Regza brand, and it will be the company’s flagship model. He likened the impact of the Cell telly’s appearance to the arrival of color television, but did admit it will be pricey.
The Cell Regza TV would have a native resolution of 3820×2160. Full specifications are expected to be released shortly.
Result for: japanese market
The Nintendo DSi was once again at the top of Japanese hardware sales for the week ended August 16th, propping up an otherwise sluggish week.
95,957 units of the handheld were sold for the week, including 7921 older DS Lite consoles. The Nintendo Wii was in second place, moving 47,732 units. Following behind was the Sony PSP handheld, which saw a 15 percent increase in sales, to 39,882 units.
The biggest “winner” for the week was the Xbox 360 which saw a 70 percent increase in sales to 9162 units.
The PS3 lagged behind at 5944 units sold, but is expected to see a giant jump sales after the release of the Slim PS3 on September 1st.
Full chart, via GI.biz:
* 01 Nintendo DS - 95,957
* 02 Nintendo Wii - 47,732
* 03 PlayStation Portable - 39,882
* 04 Xbox 360 - 9162
* 05 PlayStation 3 - 5944
* 06 PlayStation 2 - 4907
