Storage Toolkit

Flash memory flares up

Richard Shim CNET News.com

Published: 16 Jan 2004 17:05 GMT

Digital cameras have been the most significant catalyst for growth of removable flash memory cards, because consumers must have at least one card. Generally, they opt for higher capacities, which allows them to take more pictures before having to download images to a PC or swap to a new card. Cameras made up about 60 percent of worldwide demand for cards in 2003.

Camera shipments are expected to increase 27 percent to about 55 million this year from 43 million worldwide last year, according to research firm IDC. By 2007, shipments are projected to reach 81 million.

In fact, digital cameras are becoming so popular that photography company Eastman Kodak said earlier this week that it will stop selling traditional film cameras in the United States, Canada and Western Europe. The company said that with sales of digital cameras expected to overtake film cameras for the first time this year, it is redefining itself to keep pace with the market.

Other camera makers have been changing their tactics as well, gradually phasing out the low-capacity 8MB to 16MB cards that come with cameras. Consumers generally purchase a new higher-capacity card, and the elimination of a card would help to lower the cost of cameras.

"More companies are not bundling cards with their cameras, and this will occur more frequently as the market gets more competitive," said Chris Chute, an analyst with IDC. "This is a good balance for everyone -- consumers and manufacturers."

Card capacity pickup
At the same time, card makers are increasing the capacity of their cards -- across all formats. Although the tech industry is enamoured with standards, portable flash card formats seem to be resistant. The current card types include Memory Stick, Secure Digital, CompactFlash, MultiMediaCard, xD-Picture Card and Smart Media.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year, SanDisk said it would begin selling a 2GB Memory Stick Pro card next month. The company added that sometime in the first quarter it will sell Memory Stick Pro Duo cards, which are roughly half the size of Memory Stick Pro cards. The company will sell 256MB cards for about $105 and 512MB cards for about $225.