Flash to maintain mobile storage domination

Report reveals a small but emerging market for hard disk drive solutions in handheld devices.

Hard-disk-drive solutions will have a small but notable market opportunity in handheld devices over the next few years, but Flash memory will continue its dominance in mobile phones, according to Parks Associates' "Storage opportunities for handheld devices".

The report finds 99% of mobile phones will have a Flash memory solution through 2007, dipping to 96% by the end of 2012.

This slight shift is due to a small but emerging market for hard disk drive (HDD) solutions in handheld devices.

"The benefits of Flash memory - nonvolatility, fast read times and shock resistance - make this technology ideal for mobile phones and other handheld devices such as MP3 players and digital cameras", says Parks Associates Analyst Chris Roden.

"However, HDD will have some market opportunities in the near future".

"Storage opportunities for handheld devices" identifies several consumer segments in the early-adopter and early-majority categories that will demand the higher storage capacity of HDD.

These segments include mobile aficionados, mobile workers and music and video lovers.

"These consumers will require greater storage, and the low cost per gigabyte will carve out a market opportunity in handheld devices for HDD memory", Roden said.

"Storage opportunities for handheld devices" features Parks Associates' latest research on handheld storage technologies and the drivers that will shape its development for years to come.

The report examines consumers' multimedia content requirements on mobile phones, smartphones, portable media players and other handheld platforms and the impact of product design and media service options on storage media manufacturers.

It also quantifies the market potential for storage media products.

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