Could the Release of the Playstation Vita Kill Sony’s Memory Stick? August 11, 2011

With the advent of digital photography, having a memory card you can store all your camera’s data to has become a very common practice.  However, there isn’t a definitive standard for memory card designs, and the type of card you will need is usually dictated by what memory card type your camera requires.  Because of this, there have been all kinds of different memory card types ranging in different sizes, speeds and capacities, and they are not universally compatible with each other.  To deal with this, photo devices and memory card adapters have to include multiple different slots for the different memory card types.

Right now the major three memory card types are CompactFlash (CF), Memory Stick (MS) and SD.  If you buy any kind of photo printer you’ll likely find a socket for each of these cards.   Stores that allow you to print out your digital photos also will have individual sockets for each memory type.  Even the launch version of the Playstation 3 had sockets for each of these cards so you could view your digital photos and videos on your HDTV.

If you have a Sony camera bought within the last few years, chances are definite that you use Memory Stick Pro Duo to take your pictures.  By having their own proprietary media type for their devices, Sony has been able to keep the Memory Stick business thriving for them and their third-party manufacturers like SanDisk.

But probably the biggest device that uses the Sony Memory Stick is the Playstation Portable handheld.  With the launch version of the device having no internal memory of its own, savegames, downloadable games, demos, music, and videos have to be downloaded to a Memory Stick.  With the ability to easily swap these things out, gamers have been able to continuously upgrade the PSP’s storage capacity as more downloadable content is made available to them.

Recently, Sony cameras have been shipping with dual sockets which will take either a Memory Stick or SD memory card.  Because SD is used in most cameras, many users have chosen to use SD cards to ensure compatibility with a wider range of devices like Blu-Ray players and the Nintendo Wii.  However, since the Playstation Portable still has only one socket that will only accept a Memory Stick, the Playstation Portable has become the major Memory Stick selling device.

However, the Memory Stick may be going the way of the dodo and the MiniDisc.  With the Playstation Portable on its way out, the Playstation Vita will be Sony’s major portable games system.  When I demoed the Playstation Vita at E3 this year, I was able to get a few technical questions about the device answered.  Game saves are going to be stored on the internal flash memory portions of a new proprietary game stick format, and the Vita developers have assured me that the device will have its own internal memory capacity, although they have declined to tell me just how much internal space a Vita will have at launch.

However, what the Vita does not have is a Memory Stick slot.  This was a really bad decision.  Without Sony’s cameras or handheld devices encouraging sales of new sticks,  Sony is basically handing the entire market to the SD card, which is used in a wider array of devices.  With Sony’s digital cameras now all coming with dual sockets, and the launch of the Vita likely bringing the retirement of the Sony PSP, there is no killer devices that will encourage the purchase of Memory Sticks.

Likely there will still be a market for a while for legacy devices (the PSP and Sony cameras without dual sockets) but once the PSP gets phased out for the Vita the sales for the Memory Stick is going to just dry up.