subject: Is the confusion around memory stick finally over? [print this page] Is the confusion around memory stick finally over?
With more and more consumers relying on the internet for sourcing consumables, rather than hitting the High Street, where help is at hand, there has been an increase in confusion around certain storage devices; namely the memory stick. Internet users, mounting searches for memory stick via Google and Bing, or other less well known search engines, are often surprised by the results that are provided.
Product savvy users, who are aware that Sony produce a memory card for their portable devices that carries the name 'memory stick' are not so easily foxed by the situation. But many more, who are not familiar with the Sony product range, are faced with the prospect of travelling down a number of blind alleys and cul de sacs when dealing with the prospect of deciphering their search results.
The confusion rests on the fact that USB memory sticks are an entirely different product to the Sony memory stick, and whereas the term 'memory stick' is used generically in USB memory stick searches, it is conversely used as a branded search by people seeking access to information on the internet pertaining to the Sony product.
There has been little to assist the less savvy consumer in recent years. Owing to the fact that there is a wealth of information available for both categories of memory stick, search results have been populated with items relating to a combination of material covering both types of storage media. Add to this the highly technological nature of the products, forcing consumers to have had to grapple with a fair amount of techno-speak in their endeavours to buy a simple storage device, the full extent of the problem is revealed.
Thankfully, recent developments in the storage media market look set to eventually iron out the problems. Last year Sony announced that it was going to support SD cards within all of its future portable devices. The SD card is the alternative to Sony memory stick storage media, and is now considered the de facto industry standard storage card within the portable market. The fact that Sony are now supporting the preferred alternative to their own branded product, and are already producing their own range of SD cards, means that the life-span of Sony memory stick has been significantly shortened.
Nevertheless, Sony have reasserted their position with regards to the memory stick, and have committed to funding development and production of this product despite strong market pressures to completely conform. But, industry pundits are seeing the move towards SD card production and support as being the final nail in the coffin of the Sony memory stick. If this were to be the case, future internet searches for memory stick would be almost entirely devoted to USB memory sticks.
