Samsung to Manufacture Memory Sticks
Samsung Electronics and Sony Corporation today announced that Samsung is now licensed by Sony to manufacture and sell Memory Stick media. Samsung will begin production and sales of Memory Stick media in the third quarter of 2003.
This new agreement strengthens the cooperative relationship existing between the two companies beyond the basic agreement reached in August of 2001. Under the 2001 agreement, Sony worked with Samsung to add Memory Stick compatibility to a range of Samsung products including DVD players, mobile phones, PCs and televisions.
In addition to manufacturing Memory Stick compatible products, the current license enables in-house manufacturing of Memory Stick media by Samsung. Once production begins in the third quarter of 2003, Samsung will commence bundling of Memory Stick media with compatible products as well as separate media sales under the Samsung brand. In addition to the product lines agreed on with the 2001 announcement, Memory Stick will be employed in Samsung's new product categories.
Sony believes that by strengthening cooperation with Samsung and accelerating the incorporation of Memory Stick slots into Samsung's wide range of product categories, Memory Stick's "Connected World" will grow to offer customers a wider range of cutting-edge products. As of April 2003, worldwide cumulative shipments of Memory Stick media had reached 40 million units and shipments of Memory Stick compliant products had reached over 40 million units.
"Together with our current expansion of Memory Stick compatible products aimed at expanding the 'Memory Stick World,' Samsung expects the current licensing contract to result in a synergy effect which will further strengthen the flash memory business. Samsung will continue offering new lifestyles and value to Memory Stick customers while introducing next-generation mobile media products suited to a ubiquitous environment. We also look forward to the further cooperation with Sony in related applied technologies," said Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman and CEO Jong-Yong Yun in a statement.
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RE: I guess the significance of this is...
dammit, dammit, dammit
so much love for memory sticks
RE: dammit, dammit, dammit
RE: dammit, dammit, dammit
RE: dammit, dammit, dammit
RE: dammit, dammit, dammit
RE: dammit, dammit, dammit
RE: dammit, dammit, dammit
Anyone else notice....
That means that there are more MS compliant products than actual MS's to put in them. - 'Course, that's what you'd expect with Sony putting a MS slot on absolutly everything they manufacture... heh.
Oh, and for the record, I don't like memory sticks SD is a much nicer format (more difficult to get accidental leverage on). CF's okay, but it seems a bit large/chunky for my liking.
Samsung Devices with Memory Sticks
http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2183
Sony is probably pissed Samsung opted for SD expansion in the sph-i700 ppc phone.
---
David
RE: Samsung Devices with Memory Sticks
I visited the Samsung showroom last year in Seoul, and it seemed that they had been producing the memory stick for a while. They even had products in their showroom back then with memory stick slots....
RE: Samsung Devices with Memory Sticks
The reason why Samsung is producing more Memory Sticks s is to get additional revenue and boost market share in the flash memory market. They are the #1 in this market and wants to keep a distance between the next 2 competitors. Sony on the other hand now gets more products that support thier MS platform. Think about all the products that Samsung makes having MS in them. This is a golden oppportuninty for Sony.
For those who think Samsung will abandon other memory formats: they wont. Right now they produce memory chips embedded in SD, CF, MS and Smartmedia. No matter which format the market adopts, Samsung has their hands in them. The Sony deal only expands their presence in the flash memory market.
none of the flash formats are perfect
- CF has great capacity and is cheap and non-proprietary, but it's pretty big and its socket is less durable than the other formats.
- SD is an unpublished format that you can implement only under NDA (making it impossible to support in open operating systems); it also has copy prevention features
- MMC is like SD with none of its disadvantages, but it only ships in limited capacities (does anybody know whether that's a technical limitation?)
- MemoyStick is proprietary but may, ironically, be better documented than SD and not require an NDA. It is also the only format that currently allows real-time MPEG-recording at VGA size. Physically and technically it's not too bad: small form factor, good connector, not too small for people to hold.
- xD is not very much used; there is some chance that it may eventually combine the advantages of CF and SD; we'll have to see.
I guess right now, CF is probably still the best compromise. I really dislike having another format added to the mix, but xD may end up being the best successor ultimately. SD doesn't look like it's going to open up and, in many ways, is no better than MemoryStick.
RE: none of the flash formats are perfect
> documented than SD and not require an NDA.
As far as I know this is false. How exactly do you get specifications from Sony without being a licensee and signing some kind of confidentiality/NDA agreement?
http://www.memorystick.org/e-index.html
> It is also the only format that currently allows real-time
> MPEG-recording at VGA size.
Hmmm ... given that at least both CF and SD support faster write speeds than Memory Stick, I'd have to assume this is false as well.
Where's "MStick I/O"?!
Where are the I/O Memory Sticks?! Like WiFi, Bluetooth (well, OK, but it's not being sold in the US!), etc?
RE: Where's
You see? It solves everything! Retracting is the second coming of Jesus. How can you not see that?
-Bosco
RE: Where's
As for WiFi MStick:
http://www.palminfocenter.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=15625
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- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
- My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
I guess the significance of this is...
I have, and love, a TG-50. I've updated my keyboard with stickykeys, and have a clear cover now. It works great! I hate being limited to memory sticks! I have a 512meg CF that I use for passing files between pcs, and find it unbelievably frustrating that this memory stick forces me to hook up via usb to get things done.
I guess the only good point here is that the Koreans will help reduce costs on MSs, but we'll still have to settle for memory that is one generation behind everyone else....