Optical drives destined to go the way of the floppy?

Optical disc drives suppliers are facing a "crisis" with manufacturers increasingly moving away from featuring optical drives in notebooks.

Far Eastern manufacturing analysis site the DigiTimes said that Intel’s ultrabook design spelled doom for makers of optical drives given that the specification does not include a DVD or Blu-ray in order to produce ultra thin devices.

Digitimes Research said that the slim form factor optical drives used in notebooks were already the major product for optical drive manufacturers. However the shipping volume of half-height drives for desktops was falling and may potentially "face the same fate as the floppy disk drive."

Even Blu-ray drives may not be immune from the fall of physical media with the category having under performed at large. However DigiTimes Research pointed out that Blu-ray drive sales are still on the increase.