The surge popularity of MP3 medicine players is tug requirement for NAND news bulletin storage chips quicker than provider can keep up , and it could get bad if Apple introduces newfangled mellow - capacity flash - based iPods .

gross revenue of portable medium participant will grow from 134.5 million units in 2005 to 187.7 million units in 2006 , according to a study from the market research business firm Gartner Inc. released Wednesday .

Despite convert factories from DRAM ( dynamical Aries ) to NAND production , silicon chip makers wo n’t be capable to keep up with such growth . So the market for NAND newsbreak will see a 5.8 percent shortage in the 4th one-fourth of 2006 and a 2.6 pct shortage in the first after part of 2007 , Gartner enjoin .

That could lead to ruffianly competition between flash manufacturing business like Toshiba , Samsung Electronics and the newly merged Micron Technology and Lexar Media .

Last November , Apple harbinger that it had reached long - term supply agreement with five major NAND memory manufacturers , including a flash retentiveness ship’s company promise IM Flash Technologies LLC — a joint venture between Intel and Micron . Such computer storage is used in Apple ’s iPod shamble and iPod nano player .

The pending flash shortfall could be even more severe if Apple releases a high - capacity version of its iPod digital music actor , say Joseph Unsworth , a chief research analyst for Gartner .

By the closing of the class , Apple could found a flash - based music player with 10 GB to 20 GB of capacity , far above the 1 GB to 4 GB capacity of its current flash units .

Many devices already have 30 GB or 40 GB , but they save birdsong data on birl heavy disc drives , not whole state electronics . The industry is change tight . Eighty pct of the equipment made in 2005 used trice memory board , with the rest using intemperate drives .

Greater capacity will let designers add Modern features . The next generation of portable medium histrion will include video playback capability , wireless communication and integration with consumer electronics and cars .

Flash memory is popular with designers of digital camera , nomadic sound and digital euphony players because it can store a immense amount of data without requiring ceaseless great power .

Peter Cohen provided information used in this composition .