The iPod revolutionizes memory industry

The iPod success has been driving the growth of several industries during the last few years. First, the market for online music commerce was practically created by the iPod and the iTunes store. It was a great commercial step by Apple to develop this, which is already becoming the leading market for Internet-based music.

Now, recent reports of the industry suggest that the growth of the iPod is also leading to a revolution on the memory market. Memories are essential parts of the greatly hyped iPods. Each iPod nano sells with a large amount of flash memory, varying from 1GB to 4GB, depending on the model.

According to the report by eeTimes:

Strong growth in the market for Apple's iPod and other portable media players is expected to be a significant driver for sales of NAND flash memory in the second half of this year, according to a new report by market research firm Gartner Inc., which is predicting a NAND shortage in the fourth quarter.
Gartner forecasts that the market for all portable media players will reach 187.7 million units, up from 134.5 million in 2005. NAND flash-based players accounted for 80 percent of the market in 2005, according to Gartner (Stamford, Conn.).