Samsung unveils thumbnail mobile phone memory

Samsung today unveiled a small, low-power multimedia memory card (MMC) designed for mobile phones.

At just 12 x 14 x 1.1mm, Samsung's MMCmicro device is one-third the size of today's common reduced-size multimedia cards.

Samsung claimed that the design makes it easy to incorporate removable memory into progressively smaller mobile phones. Each card can operate on 1.8 or 3.3 volts.

The MMCmicro can read at 10Mbps and write at 7Mbps. A 128MB version can store about 60 5-megapixel digital photographs or nearly one hour of QVGA-resolution video.

According to the electronics giant, the card can be erased and reused at least 100,000 times and offers an operating speed between card and system of 26Mbps.

Samsung can stack up to five Nand flash memory devices into each of the ultra-small memory cards, which will initially be sold in 32MB, 64MB and 128MB sizes.

The firm is working on standardising the memory card with the Multimedia Card Association. Mass production is scheduled for early 2005.

Analyst firm Gartner predicts that demand for MMC cards will grow at an average 61 per cent annually through 2007.