Western Digital eyes miniature hard drives

Western Digital Corp plans to enter the market for miniature hard drives by offering a family of one-inch drives, an official said.

"Portable digital entertainment has created a huge demand for sub-2.5 inch drives. Current trends indicate most mobile phones will be using one-inch drives in the near future," said Hafeez Khawaja, Western Digital's senior regional director for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

An increasing number of current applications, including digital still cameras and digital video cameras, rely on one-inch hard drives.

New and future products enabled by innovations in rotating magnetic storage, such as one-inch drives, have led to increased demand in a rapidly developing market segment that includes digital video/still cameras and cell phones.

The one-inch hard drive will spin at 3,600 RPM. This new drive will be offered with the standard CF II interface and form factor, which enables it to fit into the millions of devices currently available that accept CFll cards, officials said.

"Our entry into the sub-2.5-inch segment is in response to overwhelming customer demand and broadens our market position, enabling us to participate in an incremental revenue opportunity and profit pool," said Tom McDorman, vice-president and general manager.