Some were a bit disheartened to learn about Lite-On stepping out, or at least stepping down from, the consumer optical drive market. Lite-On has recently come out to clarify their actions, due to some misinterpretation. They are not ceasing sales of all optical drives, and the changes will only result in them ceasing sales of standalone DVD recorders. Due to low profit, Lite-On is dropping their set-top recorders:
We have to admit that retailer business is a big contributor to a negative profit of the DVD recorder Business Unit in Lite-On IT Corp, especially in the USA market. That is why we need to have a serious review on the current business model with each customer in different region. For any unhealthy business, in fact no matter it is Lite-On brand or private label/ODM business, Lite-On IT has to discontinue the projects or lead them to a profitable & healthy direction.
They will still be offering their standard optical drives for computers, meaning for the most part there won't be any change in what you see on the shelves.