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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (7146)	9/11/2003 3:00:45 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Flash Market to Grow 38% in 2003, Gartner Reports Online staff -- Electronic News, 9/11/2003 Despite dropping NAND flash component prices in the first half of the year, the worldwide flash card market is expected to reach $2.75 billion in 2003, a 38 percent increase over 2002, according to Gartner Inc. "Recent NAND component price declines in 2002 and the first half of 2003 have helped proliferate flash cards in the mainstream because an increasing number of consumers are able to justify the cost and benefit argument," Joseph Unsworth, an industry analyst for Gartner's semiconductor group, said in a statement. "The flash card market is overwhelmingly driven by the consumer retail channel and is considered a price-point driven market, meaning consumers are willing to pay for as many megabytes as their budget will allow. As average selling prices begin to stabilize through the second half of this year, the consumer's budget elasticity will play an increasing role in the market in determining megabyte demand and flash card capacity transitions." But the bad news for consumers is that the flash card industry is without a standard product and continues to offer a variety of incompatible formats. Further fragmentation within some formats, Gartner said, results in card derivatives that target applications with particular attributes. "The SD Card and Memory Stick are forecast to be the dominant flash cards, capturing a combined revenue share of 65 percent by 2007," Unsworth said. "These formats are expected to prevail because they have strong industry support combined with compelling attributes in a small form factor." Gartner said the outlook for the flash card market is promising because the outlook for future applications is strong. Current applications, like digital still cameras, will continue to provide the majority of megabyte consumption in the short term as camera resolutions sharpen, increasing the demand for additional data storage capacity. Meanwhile, future applications, like mobile phones and digital video cameras, are expected to drive the predicted 81 percent megabyte growth from 2002 through 2007, fueling the flash card industry to the long term, the firm reported. "In the longer term, applications will require even more data storage capability as increased functionality and security features are incorporated into flash cards," Unsworth said. "Advancements in flash card performance, in conjunction with decreasing prices at the component level, will drive new flash card usage in applications such as mobile phones and digital video cameras, providing growth opportunities for the industry."