Memory cards are solid state electronic flash memory devices capable of data storage and digital content. They are used for mobile computers, mobile phones, digital cameras, music players, game consoles and other electronic devices. The memory cards have a great recording capability, a lot of storage capacity and are very resistant.

According to their destination, there are many memory card types. Memory cards are used in digital cameras, cell phones, game consoles and other industrial applications. The first commercial memory cards ever created were PC cards (PCMCIA), created in 1990s. Now they are only used for some industrial applications and I/O jobs. In the 1990s, smaller memory cards were developed, to replace the old ones. That is when CompactFlash, SmartMedia, and Miniature Cards appeared.

Also, the phones started to use SID – tiny memory cards. People wanted more mobile applications and this is why these memory cards appeared. The general trend was towards smaller and much powerful memory card.

SmartMedia and CompactFlash memory cards were very successful and in 2001 they already had 50% of the digital camera market share. In 2005 the SD/MMC had almost taken over SmartMedia’s spot and they were great competitors.

They came with Memory Stick variants like the CompactFlash. Nowadays, in the industrial domain the PC card (PCMCIA) memory cards kept a good market share but in the market of cell-phones and PDAs, the shares are highly fragmented.

Right now many manufacturers that create game consoles are using solid state memory cards in order to store data. In the last few years the optical discs have successfully replaced the memory cards in the home console systems. But many gaming systems that are portable still rely on the custom made memory cartridges, because they have low power consumption, a smaller physical size and also a reduced mechanical complexity.

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