Borrowing from the lightning-fast speeds, precision engineering and colorful style of international motorcycle racing, SanDisk launched a new turbo-charged flash memory card - the SanDisk Extreme Ducati Edition SD Plus. The SanDisk SD Plus Extreme Ducati has the quickest read/write times of the SanDisk portfolio and represent the company’s ultimate performance products for digital photographers. The announcement was made during a press conference at SanDisk headquarters on the eve of the US Grand Prix MotoGP race on July 22 at Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. Initial distribution of the SanDisk Extreme Ducati Secure Digital Plus is planned for August in North America and Europe.

SanDisk rolled out the SanDisk Extreme Ducati Edition USB Flash Drive. A tribute to Ducati’s distinctive Italian design and engineering, the new drive has the same glossy red chassis and black trim as the Ducati Corse team motorcycles now racking up victories on the MotoGP circuit. The true “Ducatisti,” as aficionados of Ducati motorcycles call themselves, will appreciate the attention to detail in the SanDisk Extreme Ducati Edition USB Drive, including the Ducati Corse logo on top of the drive and the red tail light that illuminates whenever the drive is inserted into the USB port of a computer. It is expected to be available in North America and Europe in August, and worldwide in September.

Toshiba Corporation, a leading innovator in memory card solutions, today expanded its line of small-format, high-speed, high-capacity memory cards with the announcement of the launch of a 4-gigabyte (GB) microSDHC card. The addition of the new card extends Toshiba’s comprehensive range of microSDHC cards, the preferred memory card for mobile phone applications, from 256MB up to 4GB. The new cards will be available worldwide from July. Toshiba’s 4GB microSDHC card meets SD memory card standard Ver. 2.00, the SD card standard for high density SD products with a capacity of over 2GB. The card is designed for use in dedicated microSDHC slots, but can also be used in standard SDHC card slots in an adapter.

SanDisk Corporation announced that it is has begun sampling 6GB and 8GB microSD High Capacity (microSDHC) flash memory cards to major phone manufacturers and mobile network operators (MNOs) for testing and evaluation. The new flash memory cards are ideal for the growing number of feature rich multimedia handsets that bring together phones, music players, hand held computers, digital cameras and more. An 8GB microSDHC card can store more than 2,000 digital songs, or more than 5,000 high-resolution pictures, or up to 5 hours of high quality MPEG 4 video2. Retail release of the cards and availability to phone manufacturers and network operators are planned for later in 2007. Pricing has not yet been determined.

SanDisk announced the availability of the 4GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) card. With the capacity to hold up to 1,000 MP3 songs, 9,600 high-resolution photos or up to 20 hours of MPEG4 video2, the 4GB M2 is compatible with Sony Ericsson’s latest generation of slim line, multimedia mobile handsets such as the Cybershot and Walkman series. “Music, video, photos, games - these are the types of content driving the need for higher capacity cards such as the 4GB M2,” said Jeff Kost, vice president and general manager of the Mobile Consumer Solutions division at SanDisk. “This trend is expected to grow as consumers embrace the mobile lifestyle and demand more storage-intensive features from a mobile device.”

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced that it has developed a four gigabyte (GB) MCP (multi-chip package) for mobile phones that for the first time forgoes the need for an external memory card slot and also eliminates having to develop interface software for all types of NAND memory. Samsung’s new moviMCP is a multi-chip package carrying an embedded (moviNAND) memory solution, which provides a simple-to-design memory package that satisfies the high-speed data transmission needs of mobile phones, while fully supporting the communication features within the handset.

MultiMediaCard Association announced a specification for the brand new miCARD, a 12mm x 21mm x 1.95mm storage card designed for easy data interchange between MMC and USB devices. When used in portable devices such as cameras, smart phones and PDAs, miCARD takes advantage of the low power consumption and high performance characteristics of the MMC interface. The sleek and versatile miCARD then allows consumers to transfer that media-rich content to PCs, printers and home entertainment appliances by inserting the card directly into those devices’ existing USB connectors - without the need for dedicated card slots or separate card readers.

Samsung Electronics announced that it has developed an 8Gigabyte (GB) microSD (Secure Digital) memory card, a size optimal for today’s multimedia mobile phones. Featuring the highest capacity today for a microSD card, the new fingernail-sized card is capable of storing 2,000 MP3 music files, 4,000 digital photos, or approximately five DVD-quality movies. SD cards, to date, have been largely used for data storage in digital still cameras and increasingly in televisions. MicroSD cards, which are a quarter the size of an SD card, are backward compatible with SD cards using an extender, to allow multimedia downloaded by mobile phones to be displayed on other media.

AMD today announced that powerful AMD multimedia technology is concealed behind the sleek, elegant exterior of the new touch-screen Prada phone by LG Electronics Mobile Communications. Despite an ultra-thin profile of just 12 mm, the model KE850 Prada phone by LG features such multimedia functions as a camera, video player and MP3 music player, all of which are driven by the processing power of the AMD Imageon 2282 media processor. To further enhance the user experience, this new GSM/ EDGE phone introduces a unique advanced touch interface that completely eliminates the conventional keypad.

From the CTIA Wireless 2007 show, Verizon Wireless and SanDisk Corporation today announced a 4GB microSD High Capacity (SDHC) card will be available on May 1. The largest capacity of the world's smallest removable flash memory card, the 4GB microSDHC is designed to meet the growing demand for a new generation of multimedia-capable mobile phones. Using the 4GB SanDisk microSDHC card with a V CAST-capable phone and V CAST Music, Verizon Wireless customers can store more than 2,000 digital songs for use on their LG VX9400 and VX8700 phones. For picture and video aficionados, the 4GB microSDHC offers the capability to store more than 4,000 high-resolution pictures or up to 16 hours of MPEG 4 video.