While Pretec announced the world’s first 16GB CF card yesterday, SanDisk today announced the world’s first 16GB CompactFlash cards designed for Professional Photographers. The new 16GB cards are part of the SanDisk Extreme III CompactFlash lineup (oh yeah – they also introduced a 12GB CF card to the same product line).

These cards are designed for professional photographers who shoot RAW or high resolution JPG files and need the very best in performance, reliability and capacity. From a performance standpoint, the Extreme III cards have a minimum write and read speeds of 20 megabytes per second.

Just like the Pretec models, the new SanDisk 16GB cards won’t be out until later this year and they won’t be cheap folks. If you need the best in storage and performance, be prepared to pay as much as the cost of a laptop with these cards. The 12GB SanDisk Extreme III’s will go for $779.99 while the 16GB’s will go for a whopping $1049.99. Crazy!

One final note, SanDisk also announced a new USB 2.0 card readers designed to transfer content quickly to your computer. The new reader is called the SanDisk Extreme USB 2.0 Reader and will cost $24.99 when it comes out in November.

[Check it out]

SanDisk Introduces the World’s Highest Capacity Card for Professional Photographers–The 16-Gigabyte SanDisk Extreme III CompactFlash

COLOGNE, Germany –(Business Wire)– SanDisk(R) Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today introduced the 12- and 16-gigabyte (GB)(1) SanDisk Extreme(R) III CompactFlash(R) cards to its award-winning Extreme III performance line, making these the highest capacity cards in the world. The new high-performance, large-capacity cards are ideal for professional photographers who shoot RAW or high-resolution JPG files and need the performance, reliability and capacity to capture these large files.

The new SanDisk Extreme III CompactFlash cards can also be used with the Grass Valley(TM) Infinity Series Digital Media Camcorder, the first camcorder introduced in the broadcast industry that uses non-proprietary, removable, solid-state flash memory cards as recording and playback media.

The new cards will have minimum write and read speeds of 20 megabytes per second (MB/sec.)(2) and will ship to photo retailers by the end of the year. The announcement was made at the Photokina trade show where SanDisk is demonstrating products in Hall 6, Stand D78/E79.

“The beauty of using large capacity cards like the 12- and 16GB SanDisk Extreme III cards is the freedom to shoot without worrying about filling up the card,” said Jonathan Torgovnik, contract photographer for Newsweek magazine and international freelance photographer. “I shoot in RAW mode almost exclusively and the large files can fill up a card very quickly. Having a large capacity card lets me focus on what I love to do–take pictures.”

Tanya Chuang, SanDisk’s senior retail product marketing manager, said, “The SanDisk Extreme III line combines exceptional performance and reliability with large capacities to provide an ideal storage solution for professional photographers that meets their shooting and workflow requirements. We believe that SanDisk will continue to be the preferred choice by professional photographers based on our capacity and performance advantages as well as our commitment to the digital photography market as a whole.”

SanDisk Extreme USB 2.0 Readers Improve Workflow

While the speed of the card is important for in-camera performance, card-to-computer transfer rates are becoming an increasingly important workflow consideration. The time it takes to transfer images to a computer can be a bigger bottleneck now that card capacities have expanded into the multi-gigabyte range. The SanDisk Extreme USB 2.0 reader is designed to transfer images as quickly as possible.

SanDisk Extreme III cards use SanDisk-developed ESP (Enhanced Super-Parallel Processing) technology that combines advanced NAND flash memory chips and controller designs, 32-bit RISC processing and leading edge algorithms for an architecture that streamlines every aspect of read and write data transfer operations. In addition, SanDisk works closely with major camera manufacturers to ensure speed and compatibility. The ESP architecture effectively removes the card as the bottleneck in data storage applications.

SanDisk Extreme III cards have the industry’s widest guaranteed operating temperature range from a minus 13F (minus 25C) to a 185F (plus 85C). The cards also include RescuePRO(R) software that allows photographers to easily recover accidentally deleted images, lost digital images or data.

Pricing and Availability

SanDisk Extreme III cards are available in CompactFlash, Memory Stick PRO Duo(TM) and SD(TM) card formats. Suggested retail prices for the two new capacities are: -0-

Capacities    US$      Euros, Ex VAT
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SanDisk Extreme III       12GB      $779.99     EUR  475      December
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16GB    $1,049.99     EUR  633      December
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SanDisk Extreme USB 2.0              $24.99     EUR  22       November
Reader
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SanDisk Extreme III cards carry a 10-year limited warranty in Europe, the Middle East and Africa but will have a lifetime limited warranty in the rest of the world. Photographers who purchase the cards also will have access to a dedicated toll-free number for technical support questions. The RescuePRO image recovery software on the cards is compatible with both Windows and Mac and requires no driver download or special card reader.

SanDisk is the original inventor of flash storage cards and is the world’s largest supplier of flash data storage card products using its patented, high-density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is headquartered in Milpitas, CA and has operations worldwide, with more than half its sales outside the U.S.

Images of SanDisk products are available at http://www.sandisk.com/corporate/media.asp

SanDisk, the SanDisk logo, SanDisk Extreme and RescuePRO are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the U.S. and other countries. SanDisk is an authorized licensee of the SD trademark. Memory Stick PRO Duo is a trademark of Sony Corporation. Other brand names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective holder(s).

(1) 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes

(2) Performance based on SanDisk internal testing.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including expectations for new product introductions, specifications, applications, markets, pricing, customer acceptance and customers that are based on our current expectations and involve numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate. Risks that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include among others: market demand for our products may grow more slowly than our expectations or there may be a slower adoption rate for these products in new markets that we are targeting, and the other risks detailed from time-to-time under the caption “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We do not intend to update the information contained in this press release.,null

SanDisk Corporation
Ken Castle, 408-801-7032
kcastle@sandisk.com,null

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