STRATEGY ANALYTICS: Cellphone Removable Memory Card Market Doubles in 2005; MMCmicro and microSD Formats Will Dominate This Space-Critical Application

Business Wire, July 28, 2005

BOSTON -- The Handset Component Strategies service of Strategy Analytics just released, "Removable Memory in Cellphones: Forecast 2005-2010," predicting an impressive 110 percent growth in 2004 to 2005 sales of mobile phones with memory card slots. E[acute accent]The market for cellphones with removable or semi-removable card slots is expected to grow from 43 million units in 2004 to around 507 million units by 2010, pushed along by the increasing demand for phones with multimedia features. These applications will require significant amounts of user storage. Removable memory cards, which consume little power and are small, light, and relatively cheap, are currently the optimum solution. E[acute accent]The MMC and SD Card Associations will compete for dominance, with both associations having recently introduced micro-sized card formats. Handset designers predict that the MMCmicro and microSD will prevail within a short time. E[acute accent]According to Stuart Robinson, Director, Handset Component Technologies at Strategy Analytics, "The proliferation of smaller formats in recent months will slow down. There is currently no need for cards physically smaller than the microSD or MMCmicro formats. Future card development will focus on improving memory capacity, access speeds and security." E[acute accent]Stephen Entwistle, Vice President of the Strategy Analytics Strategic Technologies Practice, added, "We expect the shift toward SD Card formats in recent quarters to continue. MMC formats, while offering excellent performance characteristics, are supported by only a handful of cellphone and digital camera manufacturers, including Nokia and Samsung. In contrast, SD Card formats are used in phones and cameras from scores of manufacturers." E[acute accent]Mr. Robinson continued, "This market is still very competitive, as demonstrated by the recent announcements that 1.5GB and 4GB microdrives are being integrated into cellphones, some companies are developing augmented SIM card memory, and a Taiwanese consortium recently announced a new card format. More new formats will inevitably be introduced in the years leading up to 2010."

E[acute accent]Strategy Analytics, a global research and consulting firm, provides timely insights and strategic business solutions to companies operating at the convergence of information, communications and entertainment technologies. For more information, see www.strategyanalytics.com