It looks like Format War II is over. Sony, Apple, and Pioneer cheer while Toshiba, NEC, and others shuffle to join the Blu-ray market. RCA, Microsoft, Onkyo, and Intel are counting their losses as supporters of the soon to be obsolete HD DVD.
Though the next generation media has been decided (for now), I doubt that everyone will rush off to buy a Blu-ray player (at least $250) while DVD players can be found for as little as $15. For most, the quality improvement in Blu-ray is insufficient to overcome the hit to the wallet. Plus for those like my parents, who own nearly 600 VHS tapes, there is little motivation to embrace a new media that will obsolete their vast collection.
As a side note, it will be interesting to see if HD DVD lingers behind the scenes as long as the Betamax, which continued to be produced, though invisible to the world, until 2002.