On your comments:
1) the average consumer could care less about write speed
As manufacturers add more and more features, AV recording capabilities using MP3, MP5, MP7 will becoming common, with recording features combining consecutive video frames together with audio. As file sizes become larger and larger (sensors will also have more pixels), write speed will likely become a differentiator, giving competitive advantage to manufacturers who can deliver the fastest cards.
My Nikon already shoots files up to 16.9MB per photograph. More typically, it shoots at around 7.5MB per photo in the uncompressed-RAW mode. The buffer holds up to 6 consecutive images, totalling about 50MB. "Dumping" this information into the CF card as rapidly as possible is IMPORTANT, and the write speed DOES make a significant difference.
2) I don't know which companies have the best margins
I feel that high density flash will be a financial disaster. Prices are tumbling faster than anyone has expected because of a deluge of supply coming out of fabs which have switched away from unprofitable DRAM. Samsung, for one, is targeting to produce a HUGE amount of NAND flash memory in the upcoming year.
Meanwhile, because of the soft economy, there is not much elasticity in the economics of flash memory sales. Prices being halved has not equated to the doubling of sales. Total revenue has probably stayed stagnant. Even fabless OEM flash makers are slashing margins to the bone, content with single-digit profit margins from packaging, marketing, and retailing generic CF cards at rock-bottom prices.
Lexar, the best CF card maker extant, is losing money - probably because of their relatively high marketing costs.
SanDisk, the maker of mediocre CF cards, has tremendous financial liability in being a fab owner. I suspect that they will miss their profit targets in a big way during the next couple of quarters. |
