Well, I reported that it may happen, and it seems to be the case. Atsutoshi Nishida hasn’t even warmed up the president’s chair at Toshiba yet, and he’s already telling his new minions to get the word out. I guess the underlings don’t get to keep their chairs toasty.

Seemingly dismissive of reports in the press last week that both Toshiba and Sony were abandoning talks, Nishida said in an interview with Kyodo News, “we will continue efforts….for the sake of users.”

Eee gads! That won’t sit well with some in Toshiba chairs. They must be miffed that Sony’s not budging on the physical format of any unified blue laser disc. (But really, you gotta adopt one or the other. I assume Toshiba’s taking the same stand but complaining about Sony’s.) And if Nishida really is serious about unification he’ll have to bow to Sony because Sony and Matsushita have both made it pretty clear they won’t compromise on the 0.1 mm layer thingy. Especially with the PS3 coming, this is a big thing for Sony, probably much bigger than the HD-DVD is for Toshiba.

Ach, what a mess. Someone’s gonna get burned britches from this one.

Link: DVD Recorder World - New Toshiba President Pushes To Unify Formats