Toshiba announced today that it has applied for membership of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA). The company was a principal supporter of the now defunct HD DVD disc format. It abandoned the format in February of 2008, and announced that it would cease all development and manufacturing of HD DVD players and drives. The HD DVD Promotion Group dissolved shortly thereafter and Blu-ray was crowned as the dominant format for HD video discs.
Toshiba plans to launch Blu-ray-capable products including BD players and laptops with support for the once-rival disc format later this year. The details, timing and regional launches of future products are under consideration and announcements will come in due course.
As awesome as Blu-ray may be, it's still a pricey endeavor for media junkies, so the more competition the merrier.