Samsung is looking to strengthen their digital memory storage line with a possible purchase of SanDisk.  SanDisk is currently the #1 supplier of solid state flash memory, world wide [such as Secure Digital, miniSD, microSD and many more].  Samsung is the top producer of flash memory chips.

Through an acquisition, Samsung would strengthen it’s channel for supplying it’s flash chip to retail and channel sales of end-user flash memory.

With weak chip prices and fluctuating buyer habits, a move like this could strengthen Samsung’s position and would put Samsung at over 50% of world wide control of production, distribution and sales of NAND flash memory.

Avi Cohen of Avian Securities said it was an “unlikely prospect” due to SanDisk being unwilling to sell at the bottom of the cycle, and Samsung becoming a direct competitor to many of its customers and regulatory concerns. “Regulators in the US, Korea and Europe among others will likely have issue with one player controlling north of 50 per cent of NAND [Flash memory] supply,” he said.

Another option is Samsung reducing it’s royalty license to SanDisk to gain synergy with the top seller, reduce SanDisk’s bottom line and secure channel distribution of flash memory.

However if a deal goes ahead, it could block efforts by Samsung rivals Toshiba and Hynix Semiconductor to topple Samsung’s market leadership. Toshiba runs joint production lines with SanDisk and Hynix is also conducting joint re-search with the US group. Samsung controls 42.3 per cent of the NAND flash memory market, trailed by Toshiba with 27.5 per cent and Hynix with 13.4 per cent, says market researcher iSuppli.

Source:  Financial Times.

Currently the Nokia E61 SmartPhone has a flash memory capacity of 2GBs. The firmware of the E61 limits the use of anything over the 2GB memory capacity from external memory.

You can check for updates on the support page for Nokia E61.

In the event you have a mobile phone or PDA which uses a miniSD card, you might want to install a .exe file from flash. To do this, it’s fairly simple. Since .exe files must be installed from the PC, simply connect the device to the computer and run the executable file. During installation you should have the option on where to install the program, from there select the flash memory. (more…)

GeekStuff4U is offering a 2.5 inch enclosure which houses four miniSD cards. The chassis is then connected via IDE cable to your system. A good tool for miniSD duplication, but not sure if the value goes much beyond that. With a $260 price tag you bet the four 2GB miniSD cards come with it.

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Nokia can’t let go of the swivel display mobile phone series. Their latest intro is the Nokia N93i with a killer 3.2mp Carl Zeiss Vario-Tesser lens (does it really matter?) 802.11 Wi-Fi, Universal Plug-n-Play and MiniSD expansions slot. This multimedia masterpiece even has TV-out capability. Nokia claims she can record 90 minutes of video in DVD like quality and even burn DVDs. Nokia went far enough to develop a tripod for-a-phone? WTF. Tripod DT-22

Check out Nokia N93i video commercial. (more…)

Memorex jumped into the jump drive market nearly two years ago and with it’s great success, Memorex is now splashing in flash memory. The first of ‘07 Memorex announced their TravelCard flash line of media. This includes SD, MiniSD, MicroSD and a full line of MultiMediaCards.

With world flash drive consumption to reach over 450 million units by 2008 this is a great move. Most popular sizes for the TravelCard will be 1GB and 2GB sizes. (more…)

Video-Out Card Adaptor is a traveling salesman’s best friend. Load up a MiniSD or MicroSD card with your razor-sharp-sales-pitch and hit the road because this adaptor turns your PDA or SmartPhone into a traveling video station. At one end is the VGA connector and the other a flash memory adaptor to seamlessly transmit video from your device to desktop display or projector. Max resolution isn’t bad either at 1024×768. Connection ability doesn’t stop at VGA either, you also have S-Video and RCA video outs. To really impress those phone jockeys on the sales floor, control the slideshow with included remote. NTSC and PAL supported.

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Take the 75MBs of internal flash memory and jump another 2GB with MiniSD expansion slot makes the Nokia E61 one heck of a power SmartPhone. Considering the Nokia E61, it is a 3G handset with quad-band GSM support. With WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity and the 320×240 pixel display in 16 million colors gives you a great wires free multimedia entertainment and work phone. Big downer, the Nokia E61 doesn’t consist of any camera - I guess too many businesses have issues with digital camera proliferation.

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The SDG-810 is a sweet little GPS tracker. Not only is the SDG-810 compact and work with Pocket PCs, WinCE, Palm OS, PDA phones and SmartPhones but tracks in real time down to a couple meters (6 feet for you Yanks). The bonus part for the Spectec SDG-810 is a miniSD slot for up to 2GBs of additional storage.

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