So, is the UMD a failure?

[Ausfalcon]

MikeB said:

@ Ausfalcon

The indirect summary you are linking to just states:

"PSP uses a new, Sony-developed optical media called the Universal Media Disc (UMD), which offers game software, full-motion video and other digital content. The UMD can store up to 1.8 Gbytes of digital data. Kutaragi said Sony has been in talks with several companies to make UMD the de facto compact storage media for the next generation of SD-quality video."

I don't read in this what you stated. I don't know of any other Mini-DVD or similar storage media standard.

So your point is it succeeded because it existed in the first place?  Thats setting quite a low bar for success, and does not correlate to what Mr. Kutaragi said he hoped for above.

Meanwhile in the real world....stuff like below was going on:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/16/breaking-news-sonys-umds-arent-selling-well

One may be able to find other measures of success for the format.  I am not saying that its clear that none exist.  It might be interesting to see if there is any info on profitability (or not) for the format for Sony for instance. 

But saying its successful because it was the only Mini-DVD format is not really saying anything.  And its pretty clear that Mr. Kutaragi was expecting much more from the format.  No one licensed any players, it was not seen as any ushering in of a next generation in regard to SD video, etc.   Studio execs put it down over time.  Overall, not a very good picture in comparison to the hopes Sony held for it.