CEA reports sales of flash memory reached $3.5 million in 2005 and will be up to $4 million in sales by the end of 2006. New media form factors have emerged in 2006 as memory card suppliers such as Lexar, San Disk and Kingston try to gain consumers’ favor in the highly competitive market. Dual-purpose cards with attached USB connectors replace the need for a dedicated card reader. Demand for removable storage cards such as CompactFlash, Memory Stick, SD and xD Picture Cards continues to expand as demand for digital cameras, camera phones and other digital devices including MP3 players, USB flash drives and even portable game players continues to increase.

Retailers need to keep in mind the importance of incremental sales since many customers have a variety of electronic devices that require memory cards and seeing a well-stocked display easily can lead to additional sales.  With the emergence of higher performance digital cameras and other multi-functional devices, the digital media market continues to evolve rapidly. It is pivotal that they consistently evaluate this ever-changing market for consumer demands, new product development and price fluctuations in the semiconductor industry.

The development of cell phones equipped with unique features such as digital cameras, video capture, MP3 players, video games, text messaging and e-mail is driving the need for smaller form factors.  It is anticipated that miniSD, RS-MMC and Transflash will gain popularity when expandable, mobile phones flourish. This will happen after the megapixel requirement for camera phones increases and cost declines.  The industry was hoping the memory card demand for the cell phone business would hit in 2005; it now looks more like the fourth quarter of 2006 and beyond.  Moreover, no universal card standard has been adopted by the industry, so the format of choice for cell phone manufacturers will bring down costs as well, most likely.