IFA 2008: Toshiba Press Conference

It's unfortunate that Toshiba can't come in with a £100 full 2.0 spec Blu-Ray player and steal significant PS3 sales away from Sony. I want to get a Blu-Ray player and would something half the price of the PS3 with all the features in an instant. If they also slipped out some region free firmware for it as well they would sell SOOO many of them it's silly.
Such a player could have been built on the platform of HD players they already had (HD DVD and Blu-Ray used the same codecs after all).. so it's a shame they haven't the balls to hand Sony their asses by doing something Sony can't, or won't, do and on using their own format no less.
Currently it does seem like Toshiba is sulking in the corner.

It's not as easy as Toshiba just making Blu-ray players, they will need to become part of the BDA, which Sony is a main body in, and will be coming in last with probably little to no say as to how they are able to market, manufacturer and release their own product. Remember, there is a reason every new profile update came out on the PS3 first.

Toshiba have no need to waste more time and money on this generation of HD player as they can concentrate on the next phase, which is currently in development, and can continue to concentrate their efforts on their flash based storage products which will hopefully be a successful proposition to counteract the optical format in the near future.