Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson team up on memory card standard

2009 may be the year when we finally see a unified memory format, that is, if Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson have their way. The "Universal Flash Storage specification" would see memory cards travel between cellular devices, digital cameras and other memory hungry devices without the need for adapters -- and it'll likely save us some coin, too. Some big name memory manufacturers are purportedly onboard, with names like Micron Technology Inc., Spansion LLC, STMicroelectronics NV, and Texas Instruments Inc., being bandied about. We look forward to that magical day, when our stacks of memory cards can be reduced to a stack of one type of card, ahhh... progress.

[oshean @ Sep 14th 2007 12:46PM]

'bout time!

[Alan Partridge @ Sep 14th 2007 1:09PM]

I don't trust 'em, I sense some price-fixing scandals ahead

[MeDammit @ Sep 14th 2007 12:55PM]

This has pretty much already been decided. Its call SD and micro SD. Argue all you want, but this is what 80% of the devices are using these days.

Doesnt Sony ever learn?

[Jon @ Sep 14th 2007 1:10PM]

What is Sony singled out for your diatribe and not Fuji/Olympus for xD?

[MatthewJ @ Sep 14th 2007 1:21PM]

or Nokia for MMC?

[Paul @ Sep 14th 2007 1:31PM]

Sony is singled out because of betamax, memory stick, blu-ray, and now this.

[SimbaDogg @ Sep 14th 2007 3:12PM]

you're an idiot
@paul
if you're gonna use those examples, you're an idiot too. if you would have said minidisc (which was still very popular in asia) or atrac, i woulda supported you more. but blu ray is not SONYS format, not is this new mem card Sonys either. did you happen to see two other big name mftrs up there as well? i guessing you didn't
@eminem
if you think wibree has gotten nowhere, you might wanna check up on it it again.

but anyways, this is stupid...another new mem card format is something we DONT need.

[Brian @ Sep 14th 2007 5:07PM]

Nokia uses SD in their newer devices. Newer Olympus & Fuji cameras take both xD and SD.

[shaliron @ Sep 14th 2007 8:25PM]

Actually Sony Ericsson have already started putting dual MicroSD/Memory Stick Micro slots in their phones. Eg. K850i

[Scott @ Sep 14th 2007 12:56PM]

Size contraints dictate the multitude of formats that we have.
The compact flash card in my DSLR works better for that application that then microSD in my phone. But I wouldn't want to cram a CF reader into my phone either. With the prices of memory the way they are, I don't mind having a couple of different formats and a few adapters. I don't have any desire to transfer ringtones to my camera or 8+MP picture files to my phone either, the data dosn't work across the devices. Engadget links the Memory Stick in a link, but the Memory Stick and xD formats are the only ones that I find troublesome (and I don't use them.) SD cards are very universal, and CF cards are right behind that.

Besides, coming to an agreement about flash memory specifics without including SanDisk? That sounds short sighted.

[Paul @ Sep 14th 2007 1:37PM]

Is this about right as far as covering almost all the ones out there?

http://www.memorystick.org/eng/aboutms/img/memorystick4_5big.gif

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Sep 14th 2007 2:20PM]

Don't forget to mention, that Compact Flash is one of the best values on the market in terms of MB/s per $$$ spent or GB per $$$ spent.

[Louis Elrod @ Sep 14th 2007 12:57PM]

If Sony is involved I'm not sure how "universal" it's going to be.

[Scabies @ Sep 14th 2007 12:58PM]

Right, because MemoryStick would have never come along had there not been SD or Compact Flash (or, who remembers Smart Media?) or any other "The Standard" memory card types preceeding it.
wait. damn.

[rento @ Sep 14th 2007 1:00PM]

Great, now lets talk about HD DVD

[eminem213486 @ Sep 14th 2007 1:02PM]

this is just wrong.

sony and nokia are both proprietors. why cant we just stick with microsd and be over with!!! its small enough and we have minisd and SD adaptors for microsd already!

i hate putting giving my money to anythign sony does latelly. memorystick is another waste of money whose prices dont match other standard memory cards out there! argh who agrees to this crap must like giving money away.

Texas instruments already uses SD in their calculators too. what are they doing? these "mem manufacturers" are in it for the obvious amount of cash an extra product can bring which will fail later and force us to buy the other more standard media.

[Stephen Lang @ Sep 14th 2007 1:03PM]

I agree with Scott. Some variation is fine, SD came out after CF but was substantially smaller in size for smaller devices.

But Memory Stick (and its endless variants) and xD? xD was perhaps the most pointless of all. It just means I will never buy a Fuji or Olympus camera, that's all.

[ET @ Sep 14th 2007 1:13PM]

fuji learned the hard way, F30 and F31 were using xD, but then F40 uses SD already

[eminem213486 @ Sep 14th 2007 1:05PM]

i forgot to add, this reminds me of the trick nokia pulled with their bluetooth wibree thats gotten nowhere.

[blarvh @ Sep 14th 2007 1:21PM]

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/12/wibree-is-now-bluetooths-ultra-low-power-wireless-standard/
I hope they get it out soon.

And I don't get the idea of a new "universal" memory card as most Nokia phones use MicroSD. I think most SE and Samsungs use it too, love the SD cards.

[Jon @ Sep 14th 2007 1:13PM]

Memory Stick came out before Secure Digital. I remember back in 2001 when I got my first SD enabled device I could hardly find a single consumer shop or photography shop that sells SD cards but most of the sells MS.

[eminem213486 @ Sep 14th 2007 1:21PM]

what sony doesnt learn is that people like small prices to go along with small products.

my mom came back from the store with a nice fuji camera once. i made her return it because it used xd. :p

sd cards are everywhere. ive declared my winner.

as for bluray and Hddvd. i see no end here, what needs to happen is hybrid players and recorders to end this mess, and i have good hope thats whats going to happen. these 2 formats are better to co-exist than keep bickering at each other. if that wasnt their plan all along. force both formats and screw the early buyers.

[shaliron @ Sep 14th 2007 8:30PM]

Although SD is much more convenient, I would never choose a camera solely if it used SD or XD but convergence is great.

I'd look at image quality first, and at the end of the day, it's only a little more expensive.

[ScOObyDoo @ Sep 14th 2007 1:21PM]

Great, my 39 in one memory card reader is already obsolete. Now I'll need a 40 in one.

[Paris @ Sep 14th 2007 1:37PM]

I thought every phone used micro / mini SD cards.

[LordJohnWhorfin @ Sep 14th 2007 1:30PM]

Their answer to the problem of too many standards? Create a new one. Mind boggling.

[BrettB @ Sep 14th 2007 2:40PM]

I have to agree. SD is the new standard, and with the newer larger SD cards, it's pretty much over. If these companies want a unified standard, how about jumping in bed with today's default standard and working to make SD even better (faster, higher capacity) instead of going against the grain?
I'll never understand companies like this.

[t-bone @ Sep 14th 2007 1:37PM]

I propose a name change: SD should stand for Standard Digital instead of Secure Digital. No one in my family owns a single memory-card-accepting device that doesn't take some form of SD. Even DSLRs are starting to include SD alongside CF cards.

[Jason @ Sep 14th 2007 1:42PM]

that's baloney - they're just going to introduce a new format that doesn't work with anything previous...

[BigD145 @ Sep 14th 2007 1:52PM]

A fair portion of the memory card standards can talk through each others adapters with a little rewiring of the contact points. +, -, data-in, and data-out are all you need. Even SD and GameCube memory cards are basically the same, but in different packages.

[Mr. Picklesworth @ Sep 14th 2007 1:58PM]

Damnit, this is stupid.
There is a point where standards do not help, because there are too many of them!
Look at Micro / Mini / ???? USB connectors, for example.

It's not going to work, anyway. We're already calling the existing memory card standards "standard", in some sense of the word. They are all so deeply entrenched that nothing short of a paradigm shift will make this any more "standard" than those are. (A paradigm shift being something like wireless data storage, shared simultaneously between all devices on one's personal area network).

In my world, MicroSD is actually a pretty universal standard, since I can just adapt it to fit in any slot I need. That is a lot more standard than CF or (normal sized) SD ever got.

Besides that, I sure as hell don't trust Sony to come up with a working memory card standard. They can't even keep their own Memory Stick standards sane.

[Jamie @ Sep 14th 2007 2:22PM]

24 comments, and nobody's looked at it from a business perspective.

Manufacturers don't give a shit about your convenience, their primary concern is $$$$$$$$.

If you team up with flash manufacturers to create a new method of wrapping up the same flash chips, you've got a slice of the revenue when people buy any new device that includes this new "Standard". If you keep using the same cards in all your devices, people don't buy new cards.

This is also the reason why Sony and Fuji/Olympus have their own standards (or ever-growing array of even more confusingly named products, in Sony's case). If they have their own card standard, they'll generate more revenue from it. Simple.

[t-bone @ Sep 14th 2007 2:37PM]

Universal Flash Storage

Is that anything like the Universal Media Disc that it seems only the PSP can read?

[Broo @ Sep 15th 2007 11:56AM]

I think Sony is trying to talk Nokia into using the UMD in their new phones...

Or maybe this will be the Micro MultimMedia MemoryStick Pro Duo Ultra II! (or M5PDU2 for short)

:o)

[Wolfticket @ Sep 14th 2007 2:42PM]

The new 5 megapixel phone from Sony Ericsson (K850i?) will be compatible with M2 and MicroSD, apparently. Nokia/Samsung already support SD as do pretty much all other manufacturers (as do Fuji/Olympus now). So why not just adopt SDHC in its 3 different form factors as a standard? I hope this isn't one last attempt by manufactures to get us to re-buy all our memory again.

[Dan @ Sep 14th 2007 3:17PM]

Prices on flash memory have hit rock bottom, and is eating into the profits of memory manufacturers like Sony and Samsung. It's obvious as to why these companies are coming up with a new "standard", and it isn't for convenience and savings to their customers.

[Mark @ Sep 14th 2007 3:32PM]

Looks good...oh..wait...There's a Sony label on it, that means DRM-covered technology to the point of uselessness.

[HektikLyfe @ Sep 14th 2007 3:38PM]

Introducing the Sony Blu-Stick.

[Daniel P @ Sep 14th 2007 4:07PM]

Well, I have only seen one other post about this. But it's just going to be one new format to support. To really think that all manufactures will jump on the bandwagon, to make this truly universal in kind of silly. Several will support this format, but that will only be enough to make someone else sell the "40 in 1" card reader.

[billedluh @ Sep 14th 2007 4:33PM]

what the heck? Didn't sony already do this? Is it just me or is it that basically all memory cards are eithier SD or they're by sony? Is this a device spearheaded by sony to replace SD and Sony memory stick with a More Differenter Sony Memory Stick?

[Koro @ Sep 14th 2007 5:17PM]

There is already a nearly universal memory card, its called the "SD Card"

its already used in nearly everything that ISN'T made by sony.

I think, if there is going to be an official 'standard', they should just make that standard the most common card on the market.

[kirby @ Sep 14th 2007 5:50PM]

Did someone say Monopoly?


Upon the eve of these memory cards come out, we'd be notified of a mechanism which requires the card to come from a valid vendor, e.g. no more clones or cheaper cards for example Patriot or Kingston unless licensed from the copyright holder(s).

[t-bone @ Sep 14th 2007 7:41PM]

How do you get monopoly out of 3 competing companies working together on something?

[kirby @ Sep 14th 2007 7:51PM]

I doubt it's competition, as there will be a "Set amount" of agreements that the card's can't sell for this price, not here..etc.

As well as a monopoly is one set control, by these three manufacturers "partnering" up with one each other to hit the mass market, they will no less doubt propose a security mechanism to DISABLE or not allow other parties which are not licensed from them to create memory cards, e.g. think of the xbox 360 controllers, you don't see 50million+ generic controllers, but only Microsoft OEM and Pelican (madcatz = Pelican btw.)

I say monopoly, because the company(s) is not setting a new high for a "Unified" memory format, but more or so a high to create one platform which will force consumers to go to their partnership to purchase products, and only them. Disabling other manufactures like Kingston and Patriot unable to create their memory cards, and of course not allowed to disable the security mechanism otherwise be on the short end of a lawsuit. (1985-1991 Nintendo NES console per say.)

[t-bone @ Sep 15th 2007 12:22PM]

You keep using that word but I don't think you know what it means.

Monopoly: a market in which there are many buyers but only one seller.

The fact that there are 3 sellers means this is not a monopoly.

[Carbonize @ Sep 14th 2007 6:05PM]

Did any of you lot even read the full story? Because they way I read it is they are not just agreeing on a type of card to use but, more importantly, a directory structure to use on the cards. This way you can take pictures on a Sony Ericsson then pop out the card and view the photos on a Nokia. Or download music on your Samsung phone then let your friend listen to it on their Sony Ericsson.

[kirby @ Sep 14th 2007 7:59PM]

And, you could not do this before w/ any prior memory card?

Most, if not all Digital Camera's, phones and numerous other technologies which relay on the memory card use non-proprietary formats for videos, music and pictures.

You take a picture on your phone, and save it to your memory card it's most likely in Jpeg (.jpg).

You record a video on a cell phone, it saves as .3gp (Most GSM phones), or .3gp2 (CDMA phones), and the codec is mostly reversible (e.g. GSM phones can play CDMA recorded Video's and vice versa) it only depends on the carrier if you can send it or not.

You want to play a audio file, MP3 is the "in" format, pop the memory card into any computer, copy over the *.mp3 over, slide it in your phone and load the media player and it'd play. If you're lucky and the phone manufacturer was nice enough you may even be able to set it as a ring tone. Even then if you're not, theres bound to be a workaround, either converting the codec into the phones standard ring tone format (Older Nokia's, I'm looking at you.) or the iphone, which it's disabled to gouch more cash from it's fanbase. Though nowadays, any decent enough phone supports adding your "Custom" Ringtone.

[Carbonize @ Sep 14th 2007 8:33PM]

Who said they are going to come up with a new type of card? Odds are they will probably agree to use an existing card but this time they will ALL use it. The only change will be that they will all use the same directory tree.

A lot of phones only use 3gp when recording in low resolution for sending via MMS. The better phones also have the option of MP4 for higher resolution/quality.

As to MP3 being the most popular codec. This is currently true but, like with the iPod, the most popular is not always the best. But that's off topic. I can see MP3 losing ground to AAC and WMA as music downloading by iTunes, Napster, Yahoo, Rhapsody etc becomes more popular and common place.

Be nice if everyone agreed to use OGG for lossy and FLAC for lossless but that will never happen.

[Juaquin @ Sep 14th 2007 7:17PM]

I'm going to have to agree with everyone else and say that SD should just be made the standard. Considering it has 3 sizes that'll fit anywhere, is in like 80% of devices already, it's one of the cheapest, and comes in the highest capacities and speeds - why do we need a different one?

[T.H. @ Sep 14th 2007 8:50PM]

I'll agree with the rest of the guys here. We don't need another stupid memory card format.

We've got CF which works great for certain types but is not desirable in highly portable devices such as cell phones. But that's where SD cards come in and more recently their miniaturized versions. Micro SD cards are extremely tiny and typically come in 512MB to 2GB sizes which is probably more than what the average user needs for taking pictures and loading ringtones and songs in their phones and cameras.

Want more capacity? More speed? Here comes SDHC which also comes in standard SD card size, Mini SD and Micro SD and there are higher and higher capacity SDHC cards coming out. The one negative is that while SDHC capable devices can read SD cards, older devices that use SD can't read the new SDHC cards.

Either way, along with Sony's own Memory Stick format, and a few lesser used formats we've got a lot of different competing formats. We don't need another one to clutter up the market further. Nokia and Samsung has been using SD cards mainly, let's stick to the most used standard.