SanDisk Corp. apparently thinks so. The No. 1 maker of the flash cards used with digital cameras and other products has announced plans to turn the technology into a medium for distributing prerecorded content.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based SanDisk is betting that the cards are the wave of the future because their capacities have risen and prices have been falling rapidly. Late Tuesday, the company announced it would sell 4 gigabyte cards.
The company said flash cards are perfect for the consumer who values mobility. Falsh cards allow users to move content easily between cellphones, pocket media players, computers and other gadgets.
It is an ambitious vision, requiring negotiations with content producers, hardware makers and retailers to support the format.
So far, initial supporters of the format include the record label EMI Group, Samsung Electronics Co.'s cellphone division, Yahoo Inc.'s music unit; closely held PacketVideo Corp.; and NDS Group, a maker of content-protection technology.
SanDisk envisions one plan to sell cards, to be sold in retail stores under the brand "gruvi," containing multiple products. Later, consumers can unlock additional content contained on the card. The company plans to formally introduce its suite of gruvi products to the public by Christmas.
Market research firm ISuppli Corp. predicts that sales of flash cards will more than double this year to 389 million units, while revenue surges 65 percent to $10.98 billion. SanDisk has a slight lead in market share, with 20.5 percent of the market in 2004. That figure is slightly ahead of Sony Corp., which has an 18 percent share.
Though more expensive than hard disks or optical disks for storing an equivalent amount of data, flash cards are more resistant to shocks that can cause hard drives to crash. Besides flash technology, the cards contain chips that encrypt data and do other processing.
