Users accustomed to removing the memory card from one of their consumer electronic devices and plugging it into another will soon be able to do the same with mobile phones from Nokia Corp.

Under a licensing agreement announced Tuesday, the world's largest maker of mobile phones will support the use of Secure Digital (SD) memory cards in its handsets, in addition to its existing support of MultiMediaCards (MMC).

Nokia's decision to embrace the SD card is linked to the growing popularity of this type of flash memory technology in the consumer electronic sector, according to Timo Poikolainen, vice president of technology marketing at Nokia in Espoo, Finland.

"SD cards are already available today in a wide range of consumer electronic products, such as digital cameras, media players and PDAs (person digital assistants)," Poikolainen said. "Users can store almost any type of data on them, such as games, music or personal information, and use this data in multiple devices."

The SD memory card is slim and compact, designed to be moved easily among different appliances, according to Poikolainen. The card measures 24 millimeters by 32 millimeters by 2.1 millimeters. A smaller version, the miniSD card, measures 20 millimeters by 21.5 millimeters by 1.4 millimeters.

Current capacity is 1GB but "continues to grow," Poikolainen said. The card can write and read data at a rate of up to 10Mbps.

Nokia expects to have SD-enabled handsets commercially available in the second half of 2005, according to Poikolainen.


Source : InfoWorld

panasonic already done that with the new X700 that uses microSD cards...

(in reply to SiliconFreak)

yes kogos...but to publish that...i would be accused of publishing OLD NEWS AGAIN...

But this Nokia-SD Memory Cards stuff is new...so thats why its here...

(in reply to kogos)

yes, you're right... But my point is that SE and panasonic are already using these cards, and Nokia finally came to play...... A little late, but better late than never...

Anyway... There is a big war going on between Nokia and Microsoft, bigger than we all can imagine. Microsoft is trying to gain some ground with their new Microsoft mobile OS supported by Motorola and QTEk, while Nokia is fighting back with their updated Symbian OS 7.0s supported by... nokia phones only (until now)... The S60 platform allows Nokia to lead the "race", but since more and more manufacturers are using Microsoft's OS, and more and more manufacturers have several problems with Symbian OS (like Siemens), Microsoft still has a chance... I remember that not two months ago, rumours from my-siemens.com claimed that the next Siemens smartphone will use Microsoft OS and not Symbian...

One thing is for sure: the race is still young, and i look forward to see the end... Nokia will release the new nokia phone (can't remember the model though) with S90 platform (touch screen and VGA accelaration routines), while Motorola is still silent... Panasonic follows Siemens' footsteps, using Symbian (x700 model) and SendoX as well... QTek is the big Microsoft's allie... I think i got a little out of subject, so i stop.... Afterall, war is coming... I have to prepare myself

(in reply to SiliconFreak)

What a messssssssssssss...

How could You keep it up and not going totally crazy and mad!? Thank You very much for much broader view into current situation...and please let us know what happens next...

Anyway...its nice to see Nokia joined the game...altough a bit late but anyway...


And about those "wars" between them....thats something natural...competition sure is knocking on each of their doors......and its right to be that way...at least for us users...to keep prices down...

(in reply to kogos)

i have only one thing to say: nokia rules

(in reply to SiliconFreak)