Prices of NAND flash memory are expected to decline by half by the end of the year, according to an analyst.
A ComputerWorld report quoted Jim Handy, chief analyst of Objective Analysis, saying that prices will go down from 70 cents a GB to 35 cents, keeping with historical price declines.
According to the report, the falling prices may make it more cost-effective to use memory in new ways, such as in-store advertising, Handy said. The executive said retail customers may soon see widespread use of “these very annoying little LCD screens” in grocery and drug stores. When you walk past them, “somebody starts barking at you from a video and talking about how you need this or that thing,” he said.
Memory prices will continue to fall in the 40% to 50% annual range, which will help to broaden the use of devices that use flash memory. He said if it is mandated, for instance, that automobiles have back-up cameras, “it's a very short step to have a recording back-up camera.” There are some good uses, such as flash memory in caching, and in televisions with TiVo-like capabilities.
Despite falling prices, Handy doesn't see flash memory prices reaching parity with hard-disk drive prices. There has been a 20-to-one price difference between the two, and it takes about seven years for NAND flash to get to the price of hard disk drives, the analyst said.