SD Card Association at CES Hosts SD Pavilion and Adds Key Manufacturers to Advance Worldwide Wireless Initiatives

SD Card Association at CES Hosts SD Pavilion and Adds Key Manufacturers to Advance Worldwide Wireless Initiatives

LAS VEGAS, January 6/PRNewswire/ --

- Rising Number of Manufacturers, Creation of Mobile Phone Task Force and
Industry Analyst Support Demonstrate SD Memory Card's Escalating Dominance in
Mobile Phone Market



For the fifth consecutive year, the SD Card Association (SDA) announced
today that it is hosting the SD Pavilion at 2005 International CES. The
Pavilion is located at booth #15214, in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas
Convention Center.


"Since we introduced the SD Memory Card in 2000, it has quickly achieved
the number one position in the semiconductor memory card market across all
geographies," said John P. Burnham, global director of marketing and
communications for SDA. "We are pleased and excited that NPD has reported
that SD was the market share leader in 2004 for the U.S., with a year to date
share of 40.7 percent, and that SD products were the definitive Christmas
favorites -- with SD commanding an astounding 52.7 percent share of the
market in November."


More and more, mobile phone manufacturers are turning to the SD Memory
Card as the memory format of choice. Most recently, Sony-Ericsson and Nokia
joined the SD Card Association, with the latter becoming a board member.
These global leaders and others, including Motorola, Samsung, palmOne, Sharp,
Panasonic, Toshiba, Fujitsu, NEC and Kyocera, are utilizing SD to deliver
highly sophisticated applications that excite consumers and create new
revenue opportunities for manufacturers and network operators. This is
confirmed by the 170 SD and miniSD-enabled phones and smart phone models that
are available around the world.


Industry analysts across the board have concluded that the SD Memory Card
is the dominant leader. According to Gartner analyst, Joseph Unsworth, "by
2008, revenues generated from the SD Memory Card will approach US 3.5 billion
dollars and it will remain the dominant format."



Key highlights at the SD Pavilion include:

-- Consumer Security Comes First: Using the SmartSD Card, which
integrates a smart card module with the SD Memory Card, consumers and
carriers are able to take advantage of secure applications through
their wireless devices. With both the SD and mini-SD enabled mobile
phones, subscribers can make secure financial transactions such as
bill paying, stock trades and micro payments.

-- Commitment Through Mobile Phone Task Force: The Association continues
to demonstrate its commitment to the wireless industry through its
Mobile Phone Task Force, a group of engineers and marketing
representatives dedicated to creating a seamless and interoperable
environment for building applications on the SD Memory Card format.

-- Size and Interoperability: SD Memory Card's high capacity -- currently
shipping up to 1 GB -- is an ideal match for "smart phones" that allow
users to take and email digital images, conduct financial
transactions, play games and download maps, wallpapers and polyphonic
ring tones, thus offering network operators new kinds of revenue and
service applications.


Web site: http://www.sdcard.org




Source: SD Card Association

Ray Creech of SD Card Association, +1-831-636-7322 or rcreech@sdcard.org


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