The growth of Blu-ray optical storage technology is set to offer a major boost for FireWire according to the 1394 Trade Association in this PC Pro article.  This is the result of several large consumer electronics companies including Samsung, Sharp and LaCie already offering set-top HD Blu-ray disc recorders that feature 1394 connectivity, such as for linking up with a FireWire enabled HDTV set or to a PC. 

According to James Snider, the executive director of the 1394 Trade Association, as Blu-ray increases its importance, so is Firewire due to its high bandwidth, Quality of Service and reliability.  A few advantages over USB2 include higher sustained transfer rates despite USB2's higher link speed and no CPU usage.  On the other hand, USB2 is not left either from external Blu-ray drives, with a few manufacturers such as LaCie offering Blu-ray drives that include USB2 connectivity.  

Thanks to GristyMcFisty for letting us know about this news.