Universal Flash Storage: Another flash card format, do we really need it?

Standards are great when people choose to use them. Thing is every company has their own set of technologies they want to push to become “standard.” Sony has their Memory Stick Micro nonsense, Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s devices have begun settling down on microSD but there was a time when half the models supported miniSD, way back in the day we had MMC, reduced voltage MMC, basically it was a mess. Today Micron Technology, Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE), Spansion, STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) launched plans to create yet another format: Universal Flash Storage.

Due in 2009 about the only thing that makes this format special is the fact that it is open, a lot of industry leaders (where are you Motorola (NYSE: MOT)?) are working on it and there is a promise that writing a 4 GB file will happen in seconds versus minutes.

See you in 2 years.

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[Via: Herald Tribune]