SanDisk and Sony today announced the development of the "Memory Stick Micro" format, an ultra-small IC recording media designed to meet the growing storage needs of highly compact, multifunctional mobile phones. Licensing for the development of "Memory Stick Micro" compatible hardware will begin October 3, 2005.

"Memory Stick Micro" media is approximately one-quarter the size of "Memory Stick PRO Duo" media, yet only about 1.2 mm thick. The media's edges are slotted lengthwise to allow for more slim-line designed connectors to reduce space in host devices. As dual-voltage media, Memory Stick Micro supports devices operating at 3.3 volts and 1.8 volts.

Memory Stick Micro is designed as an externally removable media with a controlled eject function to prevent users losing the media. Users will be able to insert Memory Stick Micro into an adapter for exchanging data to a Memory Stick PRO compatible product.

Dr. Eli Harari, president and chief executive officer of SanDisk Corporation, said, "The Memory Stick PRO format co-developed with Sony has become a highly successful product line for us due to its popularity with a wide range of consumer electronic products such as digital cameras and videogame consoles. Sony and SanDisk recognize the rapidly growing market opportunity for memory cards with multimedia mobile phones, and are joining forces to develop the ultra-small Memory Stick Micro format to foster development of extremely compact multimedia mobile phones."

Akira Kubota, President of Micro Systems Network Company, Sony Corporation, said, "Sony's collaboration with SanDisk Corporation has continued to develop since our initial announcement of the joint Memory Stick PRO format development in 2003. Today's joint announcement of the Memory Stick Micro format provides a new, versatile IC recording media for mobile products such as mobile phones for sharing entertainment and data."

Since the September 1998 market introduction of Memory Stick, cumulative shipments of media have achieved 145 million units as of August 2005(1). In recent years, Memory Stick media has been used not only to store still images of digital still cameras and sharing data among PCs, but has also been widely used for entertainment purposes such as playing back video and music content. As mobile phones become more advanced with varied functions, including video and music playback, there is an increasing need for smaller, high-capacity media which this product addresses.

The Memory Stick Micro media will be made available in the first half of 2006.

Memory Stick Micro Specifications

- Dimensions: 15 x 12.5 x 1.2 mm, 225mm3
- Connector Pin: 11-pin
- Maximum Capacity: 32GB (Theoretical)
- Max. Data Transfer Rate: 160 Mbps (Theoretical)
- Operating Voltage: 1.7 - 1.95 V and 2.7 - 3.6 V
- Interface: Serial I/F and 4-bit parallel I/F
- Operating Temperature: -25 degrees to +85 degrees C
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