Universal Blue Laser Player: In Ricoh We Trust

Many companies expect that the war between BD and HD-DVD will end soon; in order to give a green light to customers to buy Blue laser devices and equipments. The problem: Sony nor Toshiba wants to throw the towel.
So, for the time being, the solution would be to get a universal player able to deal with BD and HD-DVD media. For the electronics, it is already done thanks to the chips recently unveiled by Nec. For the optical part, it remains more complicated, in addition blue laser diodes remain rare so having a dual optical system might be simply too expensive and not viable for the customer market.
The solution might come from Ricoh, it keeps progressing towards the development of an optical system based on a single blue laser diode able to focus and read/play information from BD and HD-DVD media. Such universal players are expected for the end of 2007.
For the time being, Blu-Ray is leading the market for burners and computer integration, while HD-DVD is leading the market for HD movies thanks to a larger choice of standalone players... but it might change in a near future when the PS3 will be finally launched.