New Memory Stick Platform Strategy for PDA & Smart Phones
By Amy | Reporter
Date: 03/06/2003

Memory Stick, Sony's storage devices are always the best companions for Sony's CLIE PDAs. Also these tiny storage tools can be widely found in various Sony branded's portable devices.


Sony announced the introduction of Memory Stick media with Memory Select Function which will expand the connected world of current Memory Stick, providing more versatility to Memory Stick-compatible device users. Memory Stick PRO, a new generation Memory Stick format, responding to a variety of needs in the coming broadband era, especially for portable devices and PDAs was also announced.





As Memory Stick quickly gains popularity across the industry for its ability to share a variety of content stored on a single media among various products, the media is being enhanced to ensure user-friendly access to various stored content and compatibility between many devices.

The Memory Stick media with Memory Select Function incorporates multiple 128MB memory units, which can be selected by a user via a mechanical switch on the media. A 256MB Memory Stick media with Memory Select Function will be available this spring. Memory Stick media with Memory Select Function with a total of 512MB capacity and above are currently under development. Incorporation of the MagicGate copyright protection technology into Memory Stick media with Memory Select Function is also being considered.

To further cater the increasing demands for advanced new generation features such as high-resolution video recording on memory cards, a new generation of high-performance IC recording media called Memory Stick PRO was developed jointly with SanDisk Corp., Sony said.

Derived from a combination of conceptual keywords "progressive," "professional" and "protection," Memory Stick PRO incorporates both advanced technology and improved expandability while ensuring high-level security to protect commercial and personal content.

The Memory Stick PRO format was designed to realize continuous real-time recording of high capacity high-resolution moving images, with recording capacities specified up to 32GB under its theoretical maximum transfer speed of 160Mbps.

The new format includes the MagicGate copyright protection technology as a standard feature providing secure protection for commercial and copyrighted content.

Memory Stick PRO-compatible products will be launched one after another to answer user demands and offer new ways of enjoying Memory Stick. In the spring, Memory Stick PRO media in 1GB, 512MB and 256MB capacities will be introduced worldwide.



Cumulative shipments of Memory Stick media including the new generation of Memory Stick are expected to reach 130 million units in 2004 and 210 million in 2005. Cumulative shipments of Memory Stick compatible products are expected to dramatically exceed initial expectations made at the time of the media's market launch; reaching 125 million in 2004 and 200 million in 2005.