SD Takes the Lead in Memory Cards

The SD Memory Card has passed the CompactFlash Card, to take the top position in market share among memory cards in all product categories, according to the most recent sales data available from The NPD Group.

Already seen by some industry analyst groups as the coming de facto market standard in flash memory, the SD Memory Card captured the number one position with 30% of the U.S. flash memory market in October against 28.8% for the CompactFlash Card. In third place was Memory Stick, with a 22% market share.

Joseph Unsworth, Analyst - Semiconductor Memories for Gartner, Inc., noted: "The recent success of the SD Card in the retail channel is in line with my expectations of the SD Card becoming the leading flash card format. The SD Card is well-positioned in terms of performance, cost, and industry support across many applications and that is why I expect the SD card to have the largest share of revenue of all of the flash card formats in 2004."

A total of 1,524 products worldwide, carrying 134 of the world's foremost brand names, currently use the SD Memory Card. The format is further supported by the more than 650 members of the SD Card Association (SDA), a consortium working to set industry standards and promote the acceptance of SD Memory Cards in a wide variety of applications. Panasonic (Matsushita Electric), Toshiba and SanDisk co-developed the SD Memory Card format.

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So why cry about Sony?

Doo @ 12/19/2003 3:53:15 PM #
With the Memory Stick coming in at 22% people still complain about it's lack of support. That's a pretty big chunk of the market. Maybe everone else should jump on the Sony bad wagon. They are a electonic power house.

RE: So why cry about Sony?
iNOMAD @ 12/19/2003 4:12:13 PM #
or maybe not. Ms is slower, larger, and far more expensive. And Ms/io is far slower than sd/io. Also, larger sd's (more than 1 gb) will be out in 2004

i have an ipaq 4150, a Zodiac1, a and nextel i95cl.
RE: So why cry about Sony?
Wasobi33 @ 12/19/2003 5:33:38 PM #
ms works fine.


|-------------------------------------|
Choice is an illusion created between those with power, and those without.
|-------------------------------------|
RE: So why cry about Sony?
cbulock @ 12/19/2003 6:44:28 PM #
The USR Pilot 1000 works fine too.

________________
-Cameron
http://nx.cbulock.com
RE: So why cry about Sony?
somas1 @ 12/19/2003 8:18:00 PM #
Those high capacity sd cards were supposed to be available a year ago. Saying that 1 gig sd cards will be available in 2004 is like saying 5 gig memory sticks or cf cards will be out in 2005, until it happens it's vapor.

RE: So why cry about Sony?
abhinay @ 12/19/2003 10:14:34 PM #
Actually... the MS is faster than SD... atleast, the MS Pro is

RE: So why cry about Sony?
LiveFaith @ 12/20/2003 12:54:32 AM #
somas1,
You missed a golden opportunity to add ... "it's like saying the Palm WiFi SDIO card is going to be released real soon". :-)

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com
RE: So why cry about Sony?
Boogaboo @ 12/20/2003 8:28:52 AM #
I agree, with 22% market share, from 1 company's products supporting it, as opposed to 30% market share from many companies supporting SD, it looks like Sony is actually doing quite well in selling the MS as a viable option. Think about it, if you buy a Sony product once, you will tend to buy MS for that product a couple times in the lifetime of the product, and you might buy other Sony products because you want to maintain MS support with all your items. I doubt any SD supporting company can say that they can retain customer loyalty that well, since there are so many more choices for SD supporting manufacturers. I know that having choices is a plus for the SD market, at first glance, but this percentage breakdown proves that Sony knows how to keep the customers in the fold. In the end, the company that makes the most profit is the company that made the smartest decision. Customer retention and repeat buying is a big part of profit building.

I would like to see a breakdown of what format had what percentage based on the type of device used. That is a much more important factoid.

- Boogaboo

RE: So why cry about Sony?
Dolmangar @ 12/20/2003 6:22:39 PM #
Sony's way of keeping customers tied to Sony is also what keeps some people (me at least) from getting started down the Sony path. They make some good products, but their proprietary nature keeps me from purchasing their products.

Mike


RE: So why cry about Sony?
Timothy Rapson @ 12/20/2003 9:53:50 PM #
And that proprietary plan is losing me as a Sony customer. I was promised 1 gig memory cards/sticks for my Clie NR70V. The company showed charts of the future for Memory stick to reasure me that my $500 investment was good for up to 1 gig. Well, where are the 1 gig sticks for my NR? Nowhere. Sony just took me to the cleaners and dishonestly so. So, no more of my money for Sony. Period.

RE: So why cry about Sony?
atrizzah @ 12/22/2003 12:52:34 AM #
I think Sony's market share is due to their trap tactics. Clearly it gets them long-term customers, but I think if you looked at customer opinion of Sony, it would tell another story.

Peace Out
Alan
RE: So why cry about Sony?
Palm4u @ 12/22/2003 12:03:49 PM #
On the contrary, if you look at the latest PC World magazine, it surveyed like 10,000 people in USA and rated companies on their products, services, customer support, etc...

Sony was #1 in many categories. Now like previous posts said, Sony is not like Palm, concentrating on just one device (PDA). Try doing that with TV, camcorders, laptops, computers, PDAs, digital cameras, projectors, .......

================================
PDAs rule the world !

PDA's are a bit different..

abosco @ 12/19/2003 4:39:08 PM #
I'm betting most of these sales come from digital cameras using SD instead of CF. I think this makes little difference in terms of PDA's. A CF slot is held way higher than an SD slot on a handheld these days. Why? Peripherals. The SDIO products available on the market pale in comparison to some of the CF cards available, plus CF is available in sizes rated in GB. All the hype about the H2215 last year was because of its small size while still maintaining a CF slot. There are also plenty of converters available, including SD->CF to read your camera's card in your PDA's CF slot.

I don't care what these figures say - SD doesn't hold a candle to CF.

-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + T616

RE: PDA's are a bit different..
Verteron @ 12/19/2003 5:13:04 PM #
A CF slot is just as useless as an SD slot without drivers for CF peripherals. Sandisk's WiFi card drive wouldn't come any faster if it was CF rather than SDIO.

RE: PDA's are a bit different..
cbowers @ 12/19/2003 5:33:34 PM #
True, but that's not an issue on PocketPC's and PalmOS devices with true supported CF slots. The drivers where there.

HandEra had driver support for a full line of CF accessories (including barcode scanners, any NE2000 network card, modems, CDPD wireless cards, and a half dozen WiFi cards) and from dozens of brand names.

Just because the only PalmOS licensee currently, marginally, offering a CF slot in their devices doesn't include a full slate of drivers (and has a vested interest in not doing so), doesn't mean we haven't had them in the past for the HandEra 330, and the TrgPro.

Where there's a licensees will, there's a way...

RE: PDA's are a bit different..
conflagrare @ 12/23/2003 1:47:11 PM #
It's inevitable.

Eventually, technology will raise to a point that SD card with hold 4 gigs, 8 gigs, integrated wifi, bluetooth, whatever neccesary, and CF cards would just be considered "too big" and "overkill".

Heck, they even considered SD cards too big and came out with mini-SD cards.

Who Cares?

pdouglas12 @ 12/19/2003 4:42:43 PM #
I don't care if SD takes the lead or not. I DO care that SD can't make an 802.11 Wi-Fi card for the Palm. A pox on their house.


RE: Who Cares?
Ben S @ 12/20/2003 11:53:38 AM #
Umm... SD != SanDisk.

Troubling if you read between the lines...
hkklife @ 12/22/2003 9:28:07 AM #
Anyone wanna take a stab at how many of the SD cards sold, especially those at retail are Sandisk?

Every person other than myself that I know who owns a SD-enabled device either has whatever was budled with it (in the case of a digicam) or has purchased a larger Sandisk.

If the average customer has anywhere close to the problems I've had with Sandisks (slow transfer rates, cards mysteriously dying, refusing to work on Sandisk-branded USB card readers etc) then I have to think that they will make every possible attempt to buy a Fuji, Olympus or Sony camera next time around or a PDA that has CF or MS capabilities. They'll think Sandisk is indicative of the state and bugginess of SD/MMC in general.

Sandisk is pretty much entrenched in every major retail chain nationwide and their cheaper pricing only strengthens the hold they have on the market.

I wish they would either do an about-face (hah!) and confess to their problematic designs or someone would come along and take a hatchet to their SD prices to undercut or at least be comparable to Sandisk.



RE: Who Cares?
tfftruoa @ 2/14/2004 1:56:48 PM #
I'm not sure where you're doing your shopping, but at Fry's, CompUSA and BestBuy, I've found that Lexar Media sells SD cards that are slightly cheaper than SanDisk.

About Cameras

abhinay @ 12/19/2003 10:16:50 PM #
You'll see Consumer cameras using everything from SD to Memory Stick to xD. But as far as Prosumer and SLR Digital Cameras are concerned, SD and Memorystick aren't even in the race. Anything short of CF is unacceptible. EVen sony acknowledged this when they included a CF slot in their new DSC-F828.

PDA's are a different story altogether. The Average PDA User wouldn't use more than say... 256 MB( I think 128 is a closer estimate). So the smaller cards are ok right now. But if you're looking for something a Gigabyte in Size, and that doesn't cost a bomb, still, the CF card is the one to choose.

RE: About Cameras
atrizzah @ 12/22/2003 12:57:58 AM #
That may be true, but the numbers don't lie. SD is taking over, nonetheless. CF may have dominance over SD in the high-end digital camera market, but for most consumers, ~3.2MP is good enough, and they just want it in as small a package as possible. Consumer-oriented digital cameras are getting smaller and smaller, and 256MB is more than enough memory for the average consumer. As SD continues to gain ground, the prices for higher capacities will only decrease. CF will never die, because it has some great advantages that will always exist, but for most mainstream devices, SD will be the card of choice in the future.

Peace Out
Alan

Fragility vs Portability

eichiwawa @ 12/21/2003 12:09:16 PM #
Everyting I personally use uses SD, and the reason I like it is the small size. Being a pretty small guy my pockets generally are not very large, so I need a device that I can easily slide into my pocket and keep there comfortably. Before I ever buy a PDA (the zire 71 was sort of a mistake in this area) I go to best buy or someplace and see how a particular PDA feels in my pocket. I have yet to find a device that uses CF that fits comfortably. Yes I understand that you can get belt cases or whatever, and I tried that for my Zire 71, but I'm not really supposed to wear things on my belt at work (although I get away with wearing my leatherman :-) Anyway.... to the point.... I think that the most appealing aspect of using SD is its small size. It's much smaller than CF and even smaller than CF. In PDAs this is something that is highly valued. However.... I have unfortunatly lost the use of SD cards (including one very expensive 512MB card I bought when they were still about $350) because they are too easily crushed. They are the size of postage stamps and nearly as fragil. CF on the other hand is nearly indestructable. I bought my parents Pocket PCs for Christmas last year :-(they prefer the familiar windows environment) that use CF and I have been shocked at what they can put those cards through. I have never used MS simply because, like others here have stated, I do not like being locked in to using a particular manufacturer's product. I'll use my SD cards in my parent's PPC, my PDAs, my roommate's camera, my USB drive, ect..... MS is not, generally speaking, as diverse, although it is true that MSPro is faster than most SD. Sony does have some great devices (although I'd like to see a new release in the NX series with more memory, a faster processor, and the latest OS), but I have yet to purchase one primarily because I do not want to have to buy all new memory cards. So, what is it that you are looking for? Is it portability? brand name? durability? Each format has its strengths and weaknesses. I think that market will continue to support all three formats for a long time to come because each does target a different market and each has plenty of supporters.
RE: Fragility vs Portability
eichiwawa @ 12/21/2003 12:34:27 PM #


-Nathan

m100, m125, Visor Edge, Zire 71, Tungsten E..... next will either be a T3 with BT phone or a Treo 600..... have not made up my mind yet...... :-)

RE: Fragility vs Portability
mikecane @ 2/14/2004 4:11:57 PM #
>>>I have yet to find a device that uses CF that fits comfortably.

Did you try the dual-slotted (SD/CF) hp 221x? It's not much larger than any PalmOS device.

Will Laptops/PCs ever have built-in SD Cards?

Gekko @ 12/21/2003 7:48:19 PM #
Which replace floppy drives.

RE: Will Laptops/PCs ever have built-in SD Card READERS?
Gekko @ 12/21/2003 8:28:31 PM #
I meant SD Card READERS.


RE: Will Laptops/PCs ever have built-in SD Cards?
Hal2000 @ 12/21/2003 9:44:18 PM #
yes

"One hour martinizing! Who is this guy martin anyhow?"
RE: Will Laptops/PCs ever have built-in SD Cards?
orb2069 @ 12/21/2003 11:59:32 PM #
Until they take the PCMCIA/PCCard slots out, why bother building in something like that?

Here's a PCCard <--> SD reader for under $25.
http://meritline.com/riripcadfors.html



RE: Will Laptops/PCs ever have built-in SD Cards?
atrizzah @ 12/22/2003 1:05:13 AM #
They already do. I've seen them for quite a while now, and as a matter of fact, I just saw one today.

Peace Out
Alan
RE: Will Laptops/PCs ever have built-in SD Cards?
bsquare @ 12/22/2003 8:21:24 AM #

The new IBM X40 ultra portable now adds an SD along with the CF and PCMCIA it already had. It's not on the US site yet, but the IBM Japan site has info on it. This line of ultras never had a floppy (you could add one via the media slice or base)

RE: Will Laptops/PCs ever have built-in SD Cards?
Solo @ 12/22/2003 10:12:51 AM #
I have a Toshiba Satellite (laptops are always in the forefront of variety of peripherals, re: IR port) that's 18 months old, and on it, I have a SD Card reader and a Smart Media Card reader, I love these Toshiba's.... I had a Dell previously...

-Solo

RE: Will Laptops/PCs ever have built-in SD Cards?
mikecane @ 2/14/2004 4:12:59 PM #
Sony notebooks have MStick r/ws in them.

Desktops are now having 6-in-1 r/ws built-in. (Oy! Make sure it's MStick *Pro* compatible!)

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