Sony announced a new 'Memory Stick DUO' IC.

Monday, June 3, 2002 Sony announced a new "Memory Stick DUO" IC. Memory Stick was developed to propose another enjoyment by "linking" variety of devices, mainly among AV devices, by silicon media.
Memory Stick has the following characteristics:
1. Small, lightweight, and slim shape, which make carrying and handling of Memory Stick easy.
Thus, it enables compact and flexible design of its compliant devices.
2. The contact consists of only 10 pins and has structure that prevents direct touch, which ensures higher reliability.
3. The write protect switch provides simple protection from accidental erasure of important data.
4. A dedicated internal controller and unique serial protocol used for interface with Memory Stick compliant devices assure flexibility in handling larger capacity memories in the future.
5. A unique copyright protection technology provides for a system of protecting copyrighted data, which enables application to wider purposes including recording of music data.

16MB multi-purposed "Memory Stick DUO" IC has a compact size and thin structure and is well suited for a wide range of popular consumer products such as cellular phones and compact audio players. Everything recorded on the flash-memory card can be played back on a variety of standard Memory Stick products by using a Memory Stick Duo adapter. The Memory Stick Duo is approximately one third the size of the dimensions and a half the weight of a standard Memory Stick. Duo indicates the next phase of Memory Stick development by offering a flash memory recording media for ultra small portable devices.
"Memory Stick is getting into the cell phone market where removable flash will play a role in storing voicemail, e-mail, fonts, music and eventually video and applications," Niebel said. "One of the biggest opportunities for removable flash memory is consumer electronics, where Sony is very strong."
Cumulative shipments of Memory Stick worldwide in March 2002 have reached 20 million. Cumulative shipments of Memory Stick are expected to reach 100 million in year 2004. 5.1 million removable flash-memory cards will be shipped to be used in cell phones and that 1.4 million of those will be Memory Stick cards. The cost and availability in us is still a question.

sony.com
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