SanDisk Supports Palm's Selection of the SD --Secure Digital-- Card for New Palm
Handheld Computers
NEW YORK, Jun 27, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK)
today announced its support for Palm's decision to use the Secure Digital Card
(SD Card) in future Palm(tm) brand products. In addition, SanDisk welcomed Palm
as the newest member of the Secure Digital Association (SDA), a consortium of
companies SanDisk helped found to work to promote the widespread adoption of the
SD Card. Palm also accepted an invitation from the SDA to become a member of its
Board of Directors.
The announcement was made today at the PC Expo in New York City.
"Palm's endorsement of the SD card standard is a clear indication of the value
and flexibility it provides for both secure memory and I/O expansion. SanDisk,
which co-invented the SD card, with Matsushita and Toshiba, is proud to assist
Palm developers in the creation of a wide variety of SD card applications for
future Palm handhelds," said Wes Brewer, director of strategic marketing for
SanDisk.
Palm chose to support the SD card for use in its brand of handheld computers
because of the numerous advantages the card format offers, which includes
compatibility, cost, data storage access and security. As an open industry
standard, the SD Card is already supported by over 60 companies including
Hewlett Packard, NEC, Pioneer, Qualcomm and Thomson. Many of these companies are
already developing MP3 players/recorders, digital cameras and smart phones,
which will be SD compatible. Because of the card's widespread industry support,
it is expected to proliferate in the consumer electronics market and be
compatible with a large array of products.
"The SD card is a widely supported initiative that encourages interoperability
between various consumer electronics devices," said Byron Connell, vice
president, consumer markets group at Palm. Inc. "Consumers will be able to
transfer cards between devices, share image and music files and even insert an
I/O option like Bluetooth, which will facilitate the creation of powerful
applications for consumers and the enterprise."
The thumbnail-size SD card will start shipping in Q4 of this year in 32 and 64
megabyte (MB) versions, with plans for much higher capacity in the future.
Proprietary security functions have also been incorporated into the SD card that
facilitate the secure exchange of content between devices and the card. The
security technology has been designed to comply with the Secure Digital Music
Initiative (SDMI), making it an ideal solution for the transfer of digital
content such as music and movies.
The SD Memory Card was introduced in August, 1999, by Matsushita Electric
Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE:MC), best known by its Panasonic brand name, SanDisk
and Toshiba Corp. The new SD Association is an industry-wide association created
to set industry standards for the card and promote its wide acceptance in
digital applications including Internet music players, Internet appliances,
cellular phones, digital still cameras, digital video cameras, handheld
computers, automotive systems, set-top boxes and other products.
SanDisk Corporation, the world's largest supplier of flash data storage
products, designs, manufactures and markets industry-standard, solid-state data,
digital imaging and audio storage products using its patented, high density
flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is based in Sunnyvale, CA.
The matters discussed in this news release contain forward looking statements
that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties as described under the
caption "Risk Factors" in the company's annual report on Form 10-Q filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company assumes no obligation to
update the information in this release.
All trade names are either registered trademarks or trademarks of their
respective holders. Palm is a trademark of Palm, Inc. or its subsidiaries.
SanDisk's web site/home page address: sandisk.com
CONTACT: SanDisk Corporation
Nelson Chan, 408/542-0456
nchan@sandisk.com
Bob Goligoski, 408/542-0463
bgoligoski@sandisk.com
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