SanDisk today announced that the microSD specification, which is based on SanDisk's TransFlash card, has been officially adopted by the SD Card Association (SDA). The new microSD card is fully compatible with the TransFlash card and is designed as a small, flash memory storage card for mobile phones and devices. SanDisk also announced a 512-megabyte SanDisk microSD card, the largest capacity available in this form factor.

SanDisk currently supplies ten major handset manufacturers with TransFlash cards and has placement of this card at more than 60,000 retail storefronts. To date, more than 40 mobile phones that support TransFlash are shipping or have been announced. The company will continue to support existing TransFlash product lines and will transition its handset customers and the retail channel to the renamed microSD card over the next several months.

According to IDC, the market for mobile phones with card slots is expected to increase to more than 258 million units annually by 2006 as consumers adopt phones that take advantage of the features that removable memory cards provide.

The SanDisk microSD cards sold in retail channels will include an adapter that allows them to be used in any of the existing devices with SD card slots. The 512MB version will be sold at $69.99 start from August.

The company expects to have a 1-gigabyte (GB) microSD card by the end of the year and a 2GB card in 2006.

microSD features and benefits:

• Specifically designed for mobile phones
• Provides additional memory and expansion and upgrade potential for mobile phones without adding cost to handset
• Permits lower cost handset production by minimizing embedded memory
• Fully compatible with hosts that use SD or miniSD Memory Cards
• SD Adaptor available so users can insert into standard SD card slot
• Supports CPRM, SD and smartSD security