News Article
Memory flash
Taking flash memory into new markets by entrepreneurial companies will get Samsung’s support
Samsung Semiconductor, a memory technology provider, pointed to four of its NAND flash memory customers as examples of the entrepreneurial spirit that is moving the consumer electronics (CE) revolution into new directions. The companies, Pure Digital Technologies, Livescribe, Dash Navigation and Eye-Fi are marketing innovative products that have either already achieved a significant market presence or are in the process of doing so, Samsung officials said.
Fuelled by major advancements in NAND Flash, demand for CE continues to soar with markets opening everywhere that are capitalising on the insatiable consumer demand for more efficiency and greater convenience in their lives.
“As popular NAND flash memory fuelled markets such as multimedia cell phones and MP3 players continue to flourish, we see a steady stream of companies moving boldly into the marketing of technologies that people wouldn’t have thought practical only a few years ago,” said Jim Elliott, vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Semiconductor, “Now investors, retailers and e-tailers are jumping on board to support the consumer craze for new devices that are re-interpreting ‘what’s cool’ and redefining ‘practical’ in eye opening ways.”
Pure Digital Technologies, for example, has fundamentally altered the landscape of the camcorder market with its highly popular line of compact, convenient and affordable Flip Video family of camcorders.
Another company, Livescribe, has developed a “smart” writing pen called the Pulse. It comes with a built in computer that records everything the attendee or student is hearing during a presentation, seminar or class, and automatically links it to what he or she has written.
Redefining the personal navigation marketplace, entrepreneur Dash Navigation, is billing an Internet connected GPS device, as the smartest, most advanced traffic solution available
A fourth consumer electronics start-up, Eye-Fi Inc., recently introduced the Eye-Fi Card, a wireless SD memory card that automatically uploads photos from inside a digital camera to the user’s PC or Mac and to the Web.
Many companies are discovering that the potential for developing new featured devices is boosted by NAND’s small form factors and the cost efficiency provided by some of the most advanced manufacturing plants in the world. Samsung’s state of the art NAND flash plants, including two in Austin, Texas, have contributed to lowering flash prices an average of 40-45 percent a year for the past 4-5 years.
Today NAND flash is being produced for dozens of CE applications with storage capacities of a half gigabyte to 64GBs, in embedded and removable designs ranging in size from that of a fingernail to that of a cigarette case. Samsung said that while most of the CE world has capitalised on the mushrooming densities of NAND flash, look for more and more companies to specify NAND in applications that depend upon NAND flash design flexibility rather than increasing densities.
“NAND Flash relentless price declines are driving opportunity for many start ups, as well as established leaders. NAND has enabled the explosion of portable storage markets as the average price of 1GB has plummeted from about $310 in 2002 to a projected 30 cents in 2012. Affordable, compact storage is fundamental to the proliferation of new functionality, which is fuelling opportunities for new portable consumer electronics markets with significant growth potential,” according to Joseph Unsworth, research director at Gartner.
Fuelled by major advancements in NAND Flash, demand for CE continues to soar with markets opening everywhere that are capitalising on the insatiable consumer demand for more efficiency and greater convenience in their lives.
“As popular NAND flash memory fuelled markets such as multimedia cell phones and MP3 players continue to flourish, we see a steady stream of companies moving boldly into the marketing of technologies that people wouldn’t have thought practical only a few years ago,” said Jim Elliott, vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Semiconductor, “Now investors, retailers and e-tailers are jumping on board to support the consumer craze for new devices that are re-interpreting ‘what’s cool’ and redefining ‘practical’ in eye opening ways.”
Pure Digital Technologies, for example, has fundamentally altered the landscape of the camcorder market with its highly popular line of compact, convenient and affordable Flip Video family of camcorders.
Another company, Livescribe, has developed a “smart” writing pen called the Pulse. It comes with a built in computer that records everything the attendee or student is hearing during a presentation, seminar or class, and automatically links it to what he or she has written.
Redefining the personal navigation marketplace, entrepreneur Dash Navigation, is billing an Internet connected GPS device, as the smartest, most advanced traffic solution available
A fourth consumer electronics start-up, Eye-Fi Inc., recently introduced the Eye-Fi Card, a wireless SD memory card that automatically uploads photos from inside a digital camera to the user’s PC or Mac and to the Web.
Many companies are discovering that the potential for developing new featured devices is boosted by NAND’s small form factors and the cost efficiency provided by some of the most advanced manufacturing plants in the world. Samsung’s state of the art NAND flash plants, including two in Austin, Texas, have contributed to lowering flash prices an average of 40-45 percent a year for the past 4-5 years.
Today NAND flash is being produced for dozens of CE applications with storage capacities of a half gigabyte to 64GBs, in embedded and removable designs ranging in size from that of a fingernail to that of a cigarette case. Samsung said that while most of the CE world has capitalised on the mushrooming densities of NAND flash, look for more and more companies to specify NAND in applications that depend upon NAND flash design flexibility rather than increasing densities.
“NAND Flash relentless price declines are driving opportunity for many start ups, as well as established leaders. NAND has enabled the explosion of portable storage markets as the average price of 1GB has plummeted from about $310 in 2002 to a projected 30 cents in 2012. Affordable, compact storage is fundamental to the proliferation of new functionality, which is fuelling opportunities for new portable consumer electronics markets with significant growth potential,” according to Joseph Unsworth, research director at Gartner.
