The SD Association changed the landscape for consumer electronics 10 years ago by introducing a globally interoperable SD memory card standard. The tiny and reliable family of SD memory cards has increased the usefulness, value and longevity of numerous consumer electronics by offering portability, upgradeability and interoperability. Today, SD memory cards store billions of memories, entertainment, information, music, photos, maps, games, and other applications used by millions of people every day on a myriad of devices including mobile phones, media players, computers, televisions, personal navigation devices, and cameras of all types.

With an estimated 2.5 billion SD memory cards shipped, SD is now the world-leading de facto interface of removable media. During the past 10 years, the SD Association shepherded SD technology from an upstart in the then-highly fragmented removable media market to a leader with nearly 80 percent market share today. The first SD memory cards offered a then-amazing 8 megabytes of storage capacity in the size of a postage stamp, while the latest specification, SDXC, will enter the market at 64 GB, an 8,000 times capacity increase over the first SD memory cards, and scaling up to 2 terabytes of storage in capacity.

Throughout its 10 years, SD technology has maintained backward compatibility with previous generations. This commitment allows SD, SDHC and anticipated SDXC host devices and memory cards to coexist today on retailer shelves and in consumers’ homes. The basic form factors of SD memory cards – SD, miniSD and microSD – all share the same interoperability and plug-and-play convenience.

“The strength of the SD standard is proven every day in an always-evolving and fiercely competitive CE marketplace,” said James Taylor, president of the SD Association. “The SD Association has created and maintained its winning standard by ensuring SD technology aggressively responds to innovative manufacturer requirements while meeting consumer expectations of simplicity and backwards compatibility.”

SD Technology: Responding to Market Needs
The Association introduced the SD, miniSD and microSD form factors to meet market requirements for a staggering variety of consumer electronic devices.  Both the miniSD and microSD memory cards freed the mobile handset market from storage constraints and boost the functionality of today’s smart phones by providing limitless storage. Today, SD technology spans generations of memory card specifications, several card form factors, the SD host controller specification, an SD application program interface (API) and SD application specifications. These options and tools allow product manufacturers to leverage their SD capability across a variety of products and solutions. As a result, SD is used in hundreds of millions of products every day.

SD Timeline

• In January 2000, Panasonic, SanDisk Corporation and Toshiba Corporation established the SD Association as a global standards organization promoting SD product acceptance.
• 2000 – SD Association launches 8 MB SD memory card, with expectations of seeing a 64 MB SD memory card by end of year
• 2001 – 128 MB to 256 MB SD memory card
• 2002 – 512 MB SD memory card
• 2003 – miniSD form factor introduced for mobile phones
• 2004 – 1 GB SD memory card introduced
• 2005 – microSD form factor introduced for smaller mobile phones
• 2006 – SDHC introduced with 4 GB to 32 GB storage
• 2008 – Embedded SD introduced
• 2009 – SDXC introduced for 64 GB to 2 terabyte storage, 32 GB SDHC memory cards debut
• 2010 – SD Association 10th anniversary; SDXC products to hit retailers