SanDisk will supply Siemens with Reduced Size Multi Media Cards (RS-MMC) for sale with the new high-performance Siemens S65 handset.
At roughly half the size of a postage stamp, the SanDisk RS-MMC is one of the world's smallest flash memory form factors. A 32-megabyte RS-MMC will be bundled with sales of the Siemens mobile phones, which are expected to reach dealers in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America by October 1, 2004.
"This represents a significant OEM design win for the RS-MMC flash memory form factor, which we recently introduced, and we're pleased that Siemens has decided to include our cards with this exciting new mobile phone," said Heinz H. Schulte, sales director for the mobile phone market segment in Europe. "The tiny size of the RS-MMC, coupled with its high capacity for storage, is well-suited to the demands of this advanced, full-featured handset." Siemens said that the S65 is the company's first mobile phone to have an integrated 1.3-megapixel still and video camera.
Unveiled in March at the CeBIT 2004 trade show in Hannover, Germany, the Siemens S65 also comes with a full suite of business software, a large 65k TFT color screen, a speakerphone, Bluetooth wireless communication, instant messaging, and synchronization with Microsoft Outlook and IBM's Lotus Notes. The video recorder films at 15 frames per second and the video clips can be e-mailed, played back or stored on the RS-MMC card.
In late July, as part of its mobile products line, SanDisk began shipping retail versions of the RS-MMC in Europe and Asia. The card includes an extender, which allows it to adapt to a full-sized MultiMediaCard/Secure Digital slot. SanDisk's RS-MMC, measuring 24 by 18 by 1.4 mm, is about half the size of a standard MultiMediaCard. The company also offers 64MB and 128MB capacities for RS-MMC.
The market for mobile phones with flash memory card slots is projected to increase rapidly. Manufacturers will sell over 157 million such phones by the end of this year.
SanDisk designs, manufactures, and markets industry-standard, solid-state data, digital imaging and audio storage products.