SanDisk deals a card to wireless carriers
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
By Ross Rubin, Executive Director, NPD Connected Intelligence
At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week, SanDisk revealed its Service Delivery Card (SDC) initiative, following its recent moves to put DRM-free albums and DRM-laden virtual radio stations on microSD cards. In contrast, though, its latest loaded microSD is programmed in partnership with, and for use by, mobile network operators. SDCs are bundled with microSD-equipped handsets and could offer a range of content, including large applications that could springboard the use of application marketplaces that nearly every major smartphone backer now seems committed to rolling out.
But the greatest promise of the SDC is to expose consumers to the breadth of functionality that lays behind the keypad, keyboard, or touchscreen. The need for better consumer education regarding cell phone functionality was borne out by NPD’s recent Mobile Phone Usage report, which found that 45 percent of consumers use their cellphones only for voice. Service Delivery Card is not a substitute for better design and discoverability, but it can help bridge the gap in the inherent complexity of convergence we see not only in smartphones but even advanced feature phones. SanDisk notes that carriers can offer sophisticated SDCs that configure themselves on the fly to the nuances of the handset in which they are inserted.
For handsets where carriers are including a microSD card in the box anyway, such as the T-Mobile G1 or the Blackberry Storm, SDC seems like a no-brainer. Why not take advantage of the additional expense of the flash memory to elaborate on the device’s features and benefits once the customer has left the store?
However, there are cases where microSD won’t work. Nearly all Sony Ericsson handsets use a competing card format and, more ominously, high-profile handsets such as the iPhone and Palm Pre have snubbed any memory card slot (as has the Kindle 2). These handsets come with 8 GB or more of integrated flash memory and have sacrificed the card slot to achieve a slimmer profile. Unlike Apple, though, Palm seems open to microSD card support in future webOS devices as it supports memory cards in the Treo.
This helps to illustrate why the support of handset companies would help SDC. If, as internal flash memory grows, more manufacturers pass on the cards, though, SDC is still worth exploring for carriers. Lessons learned in designing applications and instructional content for the cards today could be used for preloading internal flash memory on the phones themselves tomorrow.
Tags: Mobile World Congress, SDC, service delivery card
Wireless | Ross Rubin, Executive Director, NPD Connected Intelligence | 
February 23, 2009 5:57 pm
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