Lexar will begin to ship at the end of this month its own-branded Wi-Fi memory card that will allow wireless uploading of digital photos from cameras to Macs or PCs for simplified relay of those photos to Internet photo-sharing sites.
The Shoot-n-Sync 2GB card ($99.99), compatible with cameras that accept SD memory cards, is the first result of a partnership announced by Lexar in January with Eye-Fi, the company that developed the technology embedded in the card’s controller, said Manisha Sharma, director of product marketing for Lexar’s World Wide Memory Cards. She added that Lexar will be the first company outside of Eye-Fi itself to market the technology.
“The target audience for this product is anyone from gadget lovers to soccer moms to teenagers – anyone who wants to cut out all the usual steps involved in uploading images to any of the 25 main photo-sharing sites,” she said.
Also to roll out shortly from Lexar was its 4GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) mobile memory card. The card’s application is in Sony Ericsson mobile phones and other Sony M2-compatible products, and its addition to the Lexar line completes the company’s current mobile line. It can store up to 1,000 songs or up to 12,000 photos or 1,280 minutes of video. It is bundled with a Memory Stick PRO Duo adapter so that it can be used in Sony digital cameras and in Sony’s PSP, among other devices. “This type of card,” Sharma said, “has the potential to answer the needs of a larger segment of the market. By 2010, 70 percent of all mobile phones will take some sort of card.” Pricing has yet to be determined, she said, but it will be “competitively priced.”
