CNET News.com reported that flash memory manufacturers Samsung Electronics and Toshiba have slashed prices in order to preserve their dominant market shares. These companies are under pressure from Infineon Technologies, Micron Technology which are recent entrants into the market.
These companies are wholesale manufacturers. The players in the retail market, Lexar Media, SanDisk, SimpleTech, and Viking InterWorks are passing the savings on to us through retailers like Amazon.com and their affiliates.
An example of the kind of deals that are out there today is the Lexar Media 512 MB CompactFlash card. It can be had for less than $100 and the price seems to be dropping relentlessly. Good deals are also available on MMC and Secure Digital, SmartMedia, XD cards, and Memory Sticks.
I wish I needed flash memory as much as I need gasoline in my day-to-day life. If you are in the market for one of these devices, look for the sweet spot from a pricing perspective. In the Compact Flash market, the price differentiator seems to be transfer speed: 6-megabit-per-second and 9 to 10-megabit-per-second are common transfer rates. You have to decide whether the difference in these transfer rates matter to you. For instance, in some cases your digital camera may be able to take pictures more quickly with a faster Compact Flash card.