14 DAY TRIAL // Duracell, a company whose name you will most likely remember whenever your TV remote control runs out of battery, is planning to enter the growing market of memory products. After powering consumer electronics over the past 40 years or so, the company will soon be powering your flash memory drive as well, as part of a new alliance with Dane-Elec, a global leading manufacturer and distributor of memory. The news comes to confirm the increasing interest major companies take in the market of flash-based products, which is expected to exceed the $25 billion mark by 2012, according to a recent report by the Gartner Group.
“When you think about it, flash memory is a great fit for Duracell since there's a big consumer trust factor in saving family photos or key documents," said Rick June, vice president and general manager at Duracell. "Memory is a complementary category that just makes sense for a digital camera user who's already buying Duracell batteries to power the device. Power and memory go together, and give our consumers added assurance that they have quality at the heart of their gear.”
As the deal between the new partners, Duracell and Dane-Elec, stipulates, the battery maker will step into the world of flash memory with its very own SD, microSD, USB drives and CompactFlash cards, thus trying to expand its market niche. Dane-Elec is currently one of the leading memory makers, given that it accounts for annual shipments of nearly 40 million memory products worldwide.
“Dane-Elec is proud to provide Duracell with the quality, reliability and depth of our flash memory products,” said Michel Hassan, general manager at Dane-Elec USA. “Duracell is one of the most well-known global brands, and this partnership can't help but bring Dane-Elec tremendous credibility in the global marketplace.”
Basically, what the new agreement will do is to enable Duracell, a subsidiary of Procter and Gamble, to offer its customers, who are already familiar with the company's products, the advantage of benefitting from its upcoming flash-based storage products as well.