T-Flash memory aims at mobile phones
Published: 01 Mar 2004 11:20 GMT
Memory card maker SanDisk and mobile phone manufacturer Motorola have teamed up on a new small flash card aimed at handsets as the two companies look to capitalise on the trend toward the miniaturisation of memory cards.
SanDisk formally announced the new format, called T-Flash, late on Thursday. The new cards will allow portable devices to store data, such as digital images and audio. SanDisk expects the cards to be readily available in the second quarter, and Motorola intends to use them in new mobile phones due out in the second half of the year.
The T-Flash cards will be about half the size of a mobile phone's subscriber identity module (SIM) cards, or about the size of a fingernail, according to SanDisk. They will store 32MB to 128MB of memory and cost $14 to $39, the company said.
Several new formats have been introduced over the last two years and have consistently been smaller than previous formats in order to address the needs of the shrinking devices.
More and more of these small cards are targeting the high-volume mobile phone market. Mobile phones have been advancing to include features such as integrated cameras and messaging capabilities, which require local storage. At the same time, they've been getting smaller to appeal to consumers who rate portability high among their priorities.
The worldwide flash memory card market generated $1.7bn in revenue in 2002, and research firm IDC estimates that it increased by more than 100 percent in 2003.
Digital cameras have been the major catalyst for the growth of the flash memory card market, but that is expected to change as more phones come with built-in cameras.
Mobile phones made up about 24 percent of worldwide demand for cards in 2003, according to IDC. Mobile phones with built-in cameras devices were less popular in the United States and Europe than in Asia, where a built-in camera is practically a standard feature.
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