Is Sony Already Tired Of The Format War?

It seems that Sony's C.E.O., Howard Stringer, is already tired of the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray format war. At an event held in New York on Thursday, Stringer said:

''It's a difficult fight...We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides."

Stringer went on to say that this current battle "doesn't mean as much as all that," referring to the overall importance of the competition between Sony's proprietary format Blu-Ray and Toshiba and Microsoft's HD-DVD format. He even mused that there may still be a possibility of a unified format (HD-Ray?) sometime in the near future, although he does still feel Blu-Ray is the superior technology.

To me, it's sounds like Sony is throwing in the proverbial towel in this fight. In reality though, I think some PR person got canned for not shutting up the C.E.O. when he started "speaking freely." It would be very nice for everyone involved if there were just one format, but I'm not so sure Toshiba and Microsoft are willing to let Sony join there team just yet. Toshiba has been on a loss-leader kick lately, selling their HD-DVD players for as low as $99, losing who knows how much per machine just to get into consumers homes. Sony has never had the gumption to do that (heelllloooo PS3!)

Sony C.E.O. Sees Stalemate in Disc Fight [NY TImes]