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Friday, 05 September 2008 Samsung and SanDisk confirm merger-focused talks

Leading flash memory proponents may get together

Jonny Evans

SanDisk has issued a public statement of obfuscation, attempting to cast doubt on claims its been meeting with Samsung Electronics with a view to selling out.

As reported by Rafat Ali at PaidContent.org, Samsung Electronics is reportedly considering the acquisition of SanDisk. A Samsung spokesperson said: "We are looking at various opportunities regarding SanDisk but nothing has been decided yet."

Responding to the claims, SanDisk early this morning released its own statement, in which the company agreed talks are taking place, but declined to say just how advanced they have got.

“SanDisk periodically has conversations with multiple parties, including Samsung, regarding a variety of potential business opportunities. We evaluate all of these opportunities, but maintain a policy of not commenting on market rumors or speculation," the statement explained.

Potential motives behind Samsung's interest in the acquisition of SanDisk Corporation is pretty clear - SanDisk is the inventor and world’s largest supplier of flash storage cards, and a global leader in flash memory – from research, manufacturing and product design to consumer branding and retail distribution.

With both companies deeply immersed in flash-based solutions, Samsung already pays SanDisk an estimated $353.8 million a year in licensing expenses for the format.

SanDisk also offers its own Sansa line of iPod competitors and in June acquired a firm which creates technologies to stream music over WiFi.

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Comments received


Xhris2210Great. said on Friday, 05 September 2008

Great. This means Samsung will be able to start overcharging for inferior grade memory products as the 'leading brand', too.

Sandisk does offer a generous lifetime guarantee though on their 'professional' products (effectively limited to five or ten years in some territories anyway). Oh hang about - it only means they will replace any cards that fail (and they do). Scant consolation to anyone who's just lost a bundle of images a client has commissioned [guess who that's happened to?]

Compare that to the guarantee that you would get from pro grade film and professional developing studios and it's pretty worthless. They compare with data backup, not film - which is impossible in the field unless you have dual/simultaneous card slots.

In my experience many cheaper brands are more reliable.

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