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UMTS
May 5, 2004
New research from IDC, says that the incorporation of hard disk drives (HDDs)
into mobile handsets will require a number of further evolutionary steps
before HDD-enabled mobile phones will represent a beneficial investment for
consumers and enterprises.
"The addition of HDD storage will eventually address many of the limitations
that have kept converged devices from reaching their full potential," said
Alex Slawsby, senior research analyst in IDC's Mobile Devices service.
"Handsets already have the killer application of wireless telephony, and
adding increased storage will make them a viable option for extensive music,
imaging, reference, and business applications."
Today's MP3-enabled phones, for example, can only store about 8-12 4MB
songs. In contrast, a new breed of HDD-based phone, similar to an HDD-based
MP3 jukebox players, could easily hold several thousand songs, images, or
hours of video.
Although ultimately promising, HDDs have not yet achieved the economies of
scale necessary to attract the masses. "Cost, size, and power consumption
are prohibitive factors," said Dave Reinsel, IDC research manager, Hard Disk
Drives and Components. "Flash memory is sill the best near-term option with
rotating storage solutions too costly, too large, and too power hungry for
all but the highest-end, business-class mobile phones."
This will not change until HDD technology improves further and the price of
such drives drops below $50, and arguably below $30.
