Memory company SanDisk Corp. announced a major new initiative the company said will allow companies to sell music, movies and other content through removable memory cards. Such cards are becoming commonplace in mobile phones; research firm IDC forecasts 164 million phones shipping this year with removable memory cards.
SanDisk said its new TrustedFlash digital rights management technology would support a variety of distribution models. The offering is based on DRM technology from NDS Group plc.
“TrustedFlash cards will unlock a world of premium content to consumers using mobile phones, music players, game players and video players, while providing strong security to content providers such as record, movie and game companies,” said Eli Harari, SanDisk’s chief executive officer. “SanDisk has developed TrustedFlash over the past two years, working closely with industry leaders in entertainment, mobile handsets and cryptosecurity.”
In an indication of the company’s plans, SanDisk announced a teaming with Yahoo! Inc. to allow TrustedFlash to work with the Yahoo! Music Engine. SanDisk said the teaming would allow Music Engine users to transfer their songs to devices with TrustedFlash technology, and vise versa.
SanDisk has scored a notable amount of success in the wireless industry with its removable memory cards. The company’s TransFlash technology has been incorporated into the miniSD card specification, which is used by Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and a number of other handset vendors.
