Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology Co. is pushing deeper into memory for consumer electronics with a line of cards for wireless phones that are preloaded with games, songs, videos and other files.
The offering moves Kingston beyond memory cards that allow phone users to store photos, wallpaper, ringtones and other content for phones.
“We believe the way to be successful in the market is to add some value and create a great user experience the minute the customer gets the card,” said Mark Leathem, Kingston’s director of flash business development.
The move builds on Kingston’s sales of memory cards that store photos, videos, music and data on phones. The content cards, known as micro Security Digital,or microSD,are inserted into a small slot on the side of a phone.
They were Kingston’s top-selling flash memory device during the fourth quarter, according to Leathem.
“You are looking at an eight-fold increase in sales of microSD cards from when we started selling them in January 2006,” he said. “Right now, the content cards do not sell more than the plain vanilla cards. But our growth rate on them is phenomenal.”
Kingston, with $4.5 billion in yearly sales, is the largest maker of memory boards that speed up the performance of computers. Two years ago, the company started selling flash memory cards for consumer electronics.
Cards for phones, cameras and PCs now make up a quarter of Kingston’s yearly sales.
Last year marked the first time Kingston shipped more flash devices than traditional memory boards used in computers, Leathem said.
Consumers looking to do more than just talk on their phones are at the heart of Kingston’s marketing push for microSD cards.
Some of its cards come loaded with songs by Ricky Martin. Others have college themes and come with a code to download wallpapers of school logos and fight song ringtones.
Others come with games such as black- jack. Some are geared toward business travelers by offering trip-planning tools.
Movie trailers and other videos come on others.
“We see it as a delivery platform,” Leathem said. “We also see it as a great opportunity to differentiate our products from the masses of boring, one-dimensional flash products out there.”
Content Deals
Kingston works with other companies to get content for the cards.
It has deals with a handful of wireless carriers, including Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA Inc., which includes Kingston’s cards in music kits for phones.
Music is big in Europe and Asia, where phones “are absolutely part of daily life as music players,” Leathem said.
U.S. consumers have been slower to use their phones as portable music players. Only about a fifth of U.S. users listen to music on their phones, according to Leathem.
Kingston’s best-selling card comes with 10 music files plus a code to sign up for 50 free songs to download.
“We think music is the No. 1 opportunity for a growth market for microSD cards,” Leathem said.
The songs and other content help draw customers and afford Kingston more profit on the cards, he said.
It also helps the company compete with Milpitas-based SanDisk Corp., which has the biggest chunk of the microSD market.
Kingston’s challenge is in getting people to do more with their phones so they’ll have a need for memory, Leathem said.
“Most people have phones with a card slot and have no idea what it is for,” he said.
A few years ago, the company started a Web site called Kingston Mobile Phone Village that helps people figure out how to use memory cards with phones.
Some of the site’s tutorials: “How to use a cell phone for video sales presentations,” “How to watch a DVD on your phone” and “How to send a picture of an item from a store while shopping.”
