• MOST READ

• LATEST NEWS

Continued ...

Memory Sticks are marginally thicker than MMC and SD counterparts. They adopt MagicGate based Copyright protection mechanism and offer write speeds in the range of 15 Mbps. The Memory Stick format is not compatible with either MMC or SD.

The incredible growth of memory cards seems to have caught most stakeholders unaware. As recently as two years ago, it was estimated that the average capacity of slotted cards would reach 2GB by 2010. Last week SanDisk announced an 8GB M2 card, clearly challenging that estimate. The card is being evaluated by the operators and OEMs. SanDisk plans a commercial launch in the fourth quarter this year. Therefore, it should surprise none that an estimated three-fourths of all new handset shipments include removable media capability. Apart from SanDisk, notable memory card vendors include Samsung, Sony and Renesas.

Importantly, removeable memory is scalable and provides the user the flexibility to pick and choose a suitable memory size catering to the application and cost trade-offs. It also frees the OEMs from the burden of provisioning large size memory on-board, helping to keep costs down. Consequently, most OEMs, notably Sony Ericsson and Motorola have phones with minimal on board memory with slots that can support large quantities of external memory. The internal memory of the Sony Ericsson W810i is only 20MB, but the user can add up to 4GB of external memory.

On the carrier front, telcos have found the external memory to be a handy tool to bind customers in long-term contracts. For example, Rogers Wireless in Canada offers a larger 2GB Memory Stick Micro with a 3-year contract for the Sony-Ericsson W580i Walkman phone.

Another trend running parallel to internal flash memory and removable memory is the development of mobile phone hard drives. First introduced in 2004 by Samsung in its SPH-V5400 for the Japanese market, the mobile phone hard-drive technology has found takers in Nokia, who adopted in the N91 music phones in 4GB and 8GB versions, as well as Toshiba. Samsung itself has embedded the hard-drive in the SGH-i310 with a capacity of 8GB. Concurrently, hard-disk vendors such as Seagate and Agere have launched Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled portable hard drive platforms that can be controlled by mobile phones. The Dave reference design from Seagate has a capacity of 10-12 GB and measures 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.2cm. It is not clear whether Seagate envisages this product to be embedded inside the mobile phone or to be sold as an accessory.

While most smartphones today offer a combination of memory options, phones with high multimedia functionality and premium pricing are trending towards high capacity on-board memory in the form of flash memory and hard-drives, while phones with flexible pricing opt for removable memory in form of memory cards. In the battle between flash memory and hard-drives, the eventual winner will be the one that scores optimally on cost, form-factor and power consumption. Currently, the scale is tilted slightly in favour of flash drives, however, the entry of heavyweights such as Seagate have the potential to bolster the challenge posed by hard-drives.

Pages: 1 | 2

COMMENTS

No comments yet. Be the first to add a comment!

Carrier Broadband Performance: Africa & Middle East
Carriers are using mobile broadband as their weapon of choice in the fight against the commoditization of voice and falling ARPU. This...

Voice over LTE: Market Analysis and Forecasts
VoLTE offer unique advantages in lowering a carrier's voice infrastructure economics and promises to improve voice quality, device...