Press Release: SANDISK AND SONY DEVELOP “MEMORY STICK MICRO”
(M2) FORMAT
SanDisk Corporation and Sony Corporation today
announced the development of the “Memory Stick Micro” format, an
ultra-small IC recording media designed to meet the growing storage needs of
highly compact, multifunctional mobile phones. Licensing for the development of
“Memory Stick Micro” compatible hardware will begin October 3,
2005.
“Memory Stick Micro” media is
approximately one-quarter the size of “Memory Stick PRO Duo” media,
yet only about 1.2 mm thick. The media's edges are slotted lengthwise to allow
for more slim-line designed connectors to reduce space in host devices. As
dual-voltage media, Memory Stick Micro supports devices operating at 3.3 volts
and 1.8 volts.
Memory Stick Micro is designed
as an externally removable media with a controlled eject function to prevent
users losing the media. Users will be able to insert Memory Stick Micro into an
adapter for exchanging data to a Memory Stick PRO compatible
product.
Dr. Eli Harari, president and chief executive officer of
SanDisk Corporation, said “The Memory Stick PRO format co-developed with
Sony has become a highly successful product line for us due to its popularity
with a wide range of consumer electronic products such as digital cameras and
videogame consoles. Sony and SanDisk recognize the rapidly growing market
opportunity for memory cards with multimedia mobile phones, and are joining
forces to develop the ultra-small Memory Stick Micro format to foster
development of extremely compact multimedia mobile
phones.”
Akira Kubota, NC President of
Micro Systems Network Company, Sony Corporation said “Sony's collaboration
with SanDisk Corporation has continued to develop since our initial announcement
of the joint Memory Stick PRO format development in 2003. Today's joint
announcement of the Memory Stick Micro format provides a new, versatile IC
recording media for mobile products such as mobile phones for sharing
entertainment and data.”
Since the
September 1998 market introduction of Memory Stick, cumulative shipments of
media have achieved 145 million units as of August 2005*1. In recent years,
Memory Stick media has been used not only to store still images of digital still
cameras and sharing data among PCs, but has also been widely used for
entertainment purposes such as playing back video and music content. As mobile
phones become more advanced with varied functions, including video and music
playback, there is an increasing need for smaller, high-capacity media which
this product addresses.
The Memory Stick Micro
media will be made available in 1st half of 2006.
Memory Stick
Micro Specifications
• Dimensions 15
× 12.5 × 1.2 mm
• Volume 225
mm3
• Connector Pin
11-pin
• Maximum Capacity 32GB
(Theoretical) *2
• Max. Data Transfer
Rate 160 Mbps (Theoretical)
*3
• Operating Voltage 1.7 - 1.95 V and
2.7 - 3.6 V
• Interface Serial I/F and
4-bit parallel I/F
• Operating
Temperature
-25∼+85°C
• Copyright
Protection Technology MagicGate
SanDisk
Corporation and Sony Corporation announced the development of the "Memory Stick
Micro" format, an ultra-small IC recording media designed to meet the growing
storage needs of highly compact, multifunctional mobile phones. Licensing for
the development of "Memory Stick Micro" compatible hardware will begin October
3, 2005.
"Memory Stick Micro" media is
approximately one-quarter the size of "Memory Stick PRO Duo" media, yet only
about 1.2 mm thick. The media’s edges are slotted lengthwise to allow for
more slim-line designed connectors to reduce space in host devices. As
dual-voltage media, Memory Stick Micro supports devices operating at 3.3 volts
and 1.8 volts.
Memory Stick Micro is designed
as an externally removable media with a controlled eject function to prevent
users losing the media. Users will be able to insert Memory Stick Micro into an
adapter for exchanging data to a Memory Stick PRO compatible
product.
Posted: Fri - September 30, 2005 at 08:35 AM