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Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: turnmore who wrote (19037)	2/10/2001 10:04:27 AM
From: Ausdauer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

Less warm and fuzzy. Turnmore, The last conference call knocked the fuzz off most of the "warm and fuzzy" feeling. Going forward I am trying not to pigeon hole SanDisk as a consumer electronics commodity producer, because I don't think that is a fair representation. But Q4 did show how vulnerable SanDisk's business plan is as it now stands. Here is what they said in the press release from Q4... "Every one of the markets addressed by SanDisk-- digital consumer electronics, digital wireless, internet appliances and telecommunications infrastructure-- is in its relatively early formative stages, with accelerating growth predicted by industry analysts over the next few years. I don't know what 2021 will be like, but I am still optimistic that the growth we witnessed in 2000 will be echoed in the near future. In the interim I am trying to critically reappraise SanDisk's position within the flash industry. In 2001 it will be crucial to determine if the SanDisk IP can be leveraged and to evaluate the impact of the FlashVision JV given the current market lull for SanDisk's products. The content of future press releases will hopefully give us some indication of how things are maturing. Having said that I was disappointed with the SanDisk/Zoran announcement. The products announced won't be available until the second half of 2002. I don't even know if I can play an MPEG-4 video on my PC or whether formats such as Apple Quicktime, a RealNetworks compression standard, etc... will be more competitive. SanDisk has announced its interest in MPEG-4 through its 10% stake in Divio and the SD Card announcements regarding possible adoption of the standard. I don't know what applications will be targeted, but if it is color video on cellphones or PDA's I would say that I am somewhat sceptical that there is an established consumer interest in this type of product. As an added perk to a standard still frame digital camera I think there would be a lot of promise, however. Similarly, Zoran's single chip CMOS sensor/processor IC is currently being demo'd at a 1.3 megapixel resolution supporting AVI video. I don't interpret this as state-of-the-art technology and I doubt that Zoran is the only company out there who will have a competitive integrated sensor/processor solution. siliconinvestor.com Whether or not this Zoran's solution will be accepted by most digital camera manufacturers and whether or not the announced relationship with with SanDisk will be beneficial to SNDK shareholders is very unclear. In any case Zoran and SanDisk do seem to have one thing in common... ...a close approximation of their 52 week lows. Aus

To: turnmore who wrote (19037)	2/10/2001 10:26:18 PM
From: Ausdauer	Respond to of 60323

MMC-based cameras are coming... steves-digicams.com SOMERSET, NJ - Kyocera's new Finecam S3 digital camera is the smallest high-quality 3.3 million-pixel class digital camera in the world with dimensions of 3.4" (W) x 2.2" (H) x 1.2" (D) and weighing only 5.6 ounces. The Kyocera Finecam S3 takes crisp, sharp images that rival the quality of conventional photographs while offering all of the conveniences of an advanced digital device. The camera boasts a full line-up of functions, including auto exposure control, exposure compensation, white balance controls, various types of shooting modes and playback function. Those functions can be operated smoothly using the 1.5" color LCD panel. The key to the superior image quality of the Finecam S3 is its Charge Couple Device (CCD). The high definition 3.34 million pixel CCD, the image capture element for the Finecam, is coupled with a high-resolution zoom lens that has a center resolution of over 200 lines/mm. The result is imaging quality that is on par with that of photographs taken with conventional 35mm film cameras. The camera is equipped with an optical 2X zoom covering wide-angle to telephoto shooting at a focal distance of 7.8mm to 15.6mm (equivalent to approx. 38-76mm for 35mm film camera) allowing a wide range of photography, such as landscape, portraits as well as snap shooting. Combined with a 2X digital zoom at shooting mode, a maximum of 4X zoom (38-152mm) can be achieved. A 2X digital zoom can be also used during playback mode (with recording mode at Super Fine or Fine.) As an added feature, the Kyocera Finecam S3 has an AVI movie mode, allowing users to make movies of up to 15 seconds. The AVI file format can be played back on the Kyocera FinecamS3 camera or on a PC, using Quick Time 4 or above. The Finecam offers an array of shooting and flash modes, including: Macro, which allows shooting approximately 9 cm from the lens surface when in wide angle Infinity Mode Manual focusing 4 Flash modes (Auto, Red-eye reduction, Fill-in or Flash Off) Color modes (Color, Sepia or Black & White) White Balance (Auto, Daylight, Tungsten Lamp, Cloudy, Fluorescent Lamp, Manual) Exposure compensation (+ - 2EV, 1/3 EV step) The camera is built with a durable metal cover, providing not only a smooth feeling for the user but long-lasting protection for the camera itself. Protecting the lens is a built-in auto lens barrier, which allows for usage without fear of losing or forgetting to remove the lens cap. The Finecam also comes with a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery that helps to protect the environment. Additionally, the Finecam S3 comes with a 16MB Memory card, an ultra compact SD/MMC USB reader and the popular ArcSoft PhotoImpression software. Aus