Remember how Sandisk was flirting with read-only, cheap-archival storage based on their new "3D memory' back in February? Well, it sounds like they're about to commit.
We just received a tip from a SanDisk customer who took a survey about a proposed write-once memory card. The most interesting new piece of information is the price: a 400 photo, 1GB write-once card for a proposed $5.99 as described by our tipster. We can't vouch for his claims -- nevertheless, what he says is consistent with what we've heard and certainly makes sense. We'll break it down for you as we received it:
The new "memory cards (memory stick)" will be widely available in food, drug, camera, and convenience stores (we already knew that Wal-Mart and Walgreens were involved)
The new format fits your existing camera
Large enough to store at least 100 photos per card (does that mean 256MB cards for $2.00 or less?)
Write-once technology stores your pictures safely for over 100 years (check)
Less expensive than standard re-writeable memory cards (duh)
No dates were provided in the survey, but at this point, a near-term launch certainly appears imminent.