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To: Steve 667 who wrote (26331)	7/8/2004 9:23:44 PM
From: Cooters	Respond to of 60323

What people really want is a cell phone that doesn't drop calls. That is Job #1, you are correct. But while I am carrying this handset around with me, I would also like to use it to take photos and video clips, access the internet, do video calls, access position location, stream a little cable TV, watch the Cubs, and a couple dozen other things I haven't even thought of. What differentiates the photos and video clips from the rest is I do not need connectivity, just storage. The designs are moving in that direction. We are following it closely, but it looks really positive. Cooters

To: Steve 667 who wrote (26331)	7/8/2004 10:41:43 PM
From: slacker711	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

I said the carriers do not want alot of storage capacity on the phones. The carriers dont really have a ton of choice. The most they could do is choose to subsidize handsets that dont have memory slots....but they have never shown much restraint at selective subsidies. If they had, they would have slowed down Nokia's sales a long time ago. The key question is still end market demand. How much memory do consumers want? I feel fairly sure that digital cameras are going to extensively used....but to get into the GB+ range for memory cards, we will need to see MP3's and videos to become popular. Of course, since the handset market is 600 million plus units a year, even 100MB a handset would cause a big bump in the number of Terabytes used worldwide. Slacker

To: Steve 667 who wrote (26331)	7/9/2004 7:58:14 AM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

Steve-->>Sending and receiving pictures on a tiny cell phone is just a fad.<< Not quite a fad. Turns out that users of cell phones with cameras are cutting into the market for throw away cameras. A lot of users want the convenience of a small camera and are satisfied with modest quality, similar to what they would get on a typical one-time use camera. The difference is that with a cell phone camera, they'll take a few shots and keep only the best ones, which they will send to their friends via wireless connection or download to a computer/printer. We're getting to a point where the popular throwaway camera with convenient 1-hr. processing is starting to disappear. That's because, except in high traffic locations, there isn't enough business to make these 1-hr. processing centers profitable. Instead, the 1-hr. centers are installing equipment to make prints from flash cards or CD's. Flash memory has become a disruptive technology--helping to replace conventional film and processing, and changing the way that small files are stored, thereby cutting into products such as the ZIP drives and smaller size hard disk drives. No wonder Micron Technology wants to get into this market. They can do it cheaper than many companies because they already have excess DRAM capacity they can convert to NAND production. This should be seen not as an addition to a perceived oversupply but as confirmation that demand for flash is really soaring. Art