The company has licensed the technology to six Japanese electronics manufacturers, including Fujitsu, Aiwa, Sanyo Electric, Sharp, Pioneer, and Kenwood. But Auclair said Sony keeps information on the technology close to its vest, and the SDA's openness will help it compete and attract industry partners. Sony has been promoting Memory Stick very heavily. They definitely have PR on their side and they've been out there quite a while. But he said the SD card has an improved security system, which content companies, such as record labels, see as critical.
Some manufacturers plan portable music devices based on both standards to hedge their bets.
Users will be able to transfer content to the cards at a rate of 10 megabytes per second. That means an hour's worth of music can be loaded onto a card in six seconds. The SDA and Microsoft announced Wednesday that the new SD Memory Card would include support for the Microsoft Windows Media audio and video format. Auclair said the cards are sure to be compatible with other popular compression formats, including MP3. Through adapter cables, users will be able to connect SD cards to computers using their USB ports and PC card slots.