A November 2004 report by IDC estimates that shipments of portable multimedia players using microdrives will double in 2005 from 2004. And 2006 is supposed to be an even bigger year. And that’s only one category of devices. Meanwhile, microdrive capacity is expected to soar (up to 80GB for a Hitachi double platter 1.8-inch drive expected later this year)
So what does that mean for us? As the number of vendors increases, competition will increase and we should see lower prices and a faster innovation pace. And as microdrive capacity increases, flash memory manufacturers will have to respond as well. Again, more capacity, better prices.
I also expect that microdrives will become more ubiquitous, appearing in PDAs, cellphones and other electronic gadgets.