Format war

A format war is the competition between two or more different formats to become the industry standard. Standards are important in every industry and format wars are common. The winning standard usually gets the largest market share. The losing format often suffers dying sales until it is gone completely. Sometimes the winning format is technically the best, but usually the different formats have different advantages. Being first or being cheaper can also help one design win out over its rivals.

Examples

Direct current vs. Alternating current for power distribution.
Various Rail gauges
wax cylinders vs. the Gramophone record for early music recordings
VHS vs. Betamax for video recording tape
Microsoft and Intel (Wintel) vs. Apple Inc. and Android computer operating systems
Blu-ray Disc vs. HD DVD for laser discs
- MiniDisc vs. CD data storage
- DVD+R vs. DVD-R data and information

References

1 2 Charles Hill; Gareth Jones; Melissa Schilling, Strategic Management: Theory & Cases: An Integrated Approach (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004), p. 219
↑ David Ellis; Julia Johnston, Split Screen: Home Entertainment and the New Technologies (Toronto: Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, 1992), p. 39
↑ Stephen Martin, Industrial Organization in Context (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 308
↑ David Ellis; Julia Johnston, Split Screen: Home Entertainment and the New Technologies (Toronto: Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, 1992), p. 40

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[Hill219-1] 1 2 Charles Hill; Gareth Jones; Melissa Schilling, Strategic Management: Theory & Cases: An Integrated Approach (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004), p. 219

[Ellis39-2] David Ellis; Julia Johnston, Split Screen: Home Entertainment and the New Technologies (Toronto: Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, 1992), p. 39

[3] Stephen Martin, Industrial Organization in Context (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 308

[Ellis40-4] David Ellis; Julia Johnston, Split Screen: Home Entertainment and the New Technologies (Toronto: Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, 1992), p. 40