As a backup storage media, there is a future (Score 1)

• Optical disks are free of the (unreliable) mechanics of hard disk storage
• Optical media is designed to be produced efficiently, unit costs are low (not necessarily low/space, but low/unit)
• Standards for capacity increases have so far been predictable

I think that the future of optical disk is to compete with backup tape in their niche market. It is a niche market in the sense of user base, but cost-effective backup is certainly an important business problem for years to come.