subject: Sony shrinks its Memory Stick [print this page] Sony shrinks its Memory Stick Sony shrinks its Memory Stick
Sony is planning to take a bigger piece of the removable-flash-memory market with a smaller memory card. Memory Stick Duo is a smaller version of Sony's removable-flash-memory card format Memory Stick, which is roughly the size of a stick of chewing gum. Both these card formats were created as storage options for portable consumer-electronics devices. Memory Stick is used in devices like handhelds and digital cameras. Memory Stick Duo is about one-third the size of the original, and is meant to fit into devices like cell phones and small digital audio players. According to Sony company there were 20 million shipments of Memory Stick cards recently.
According to the analyst of Web-Feet Researcg the entrance into the cell phone and digital audio player markets will boost Memory Stick's share of the removable-flash-memory card market. Memory Stick trails the SmartMedia, CompactFlash and Multimedia Card formats. According to Web-Feet estimates that this year 5.1 million removable flash-memory cards will be shipped to be used in cell phones, and that 1.4 million of those will be Memory Stick cards. The total number of cards is expected to triple next year to 15.5 million cards, and Memory Stick is expected to account for about 5.2 million units as per the reports available. Memory Stick has done a business of $1.3 billion market last year, according to Analyst.
Japanese cell phone operator NTT DoCoMo announced that it will begin selling a new phone, the i-shot mova D25li, in Japan that can use Memory Stick Duo cards. The new phone comes with a built-in camera, and images can be stored on the 8MB Memory Stick Duo card that available with the phone. According to Sony representative, Sony is working to sell Memory Stick Duo on a worldwide basis, and will soon come to the market. The 16MB Memory Stick Duo card will come with an adapter so that can be used in devices which supports the larger Memory Stick format. Sony is looking ahead to offer Memory Stick Duo cards with more memory capabilities today.
