"We're looking to see storage implemented in the mobile ecosystem"

Via Slashdot, this news that Seagate is offering tiny 10-20GB storage devices that connect to your mobile phone via Bluetooth. Obvious advantages include (1) greatly expanded video and photo storage, making the mobile phone a more versatile collection and monitoring device; and (2) greatly expanded music and video content storage, providing an instant challenge to iPods and the iPhone.

"Products using DAVE technology will enable digital content, whether for business or entertainment use, to be stored, moved, and connected in ways never before possible," said Patrick King, senior vice president of Seagate’s consumer electronics business unit, in a press release.

DAVE-based products will be about the size of a credit card and less than half and inch thick, with an operating range of up to 30 feet from the connected phone.

"The reference deisgn is a bit smaller, thinner and lighter than a Moto RAZR," Pait said.

Target price: $150.

Gadget Lab: Seagate Offers Mass Storage for Phones

ADDED: Notice that since it uses Bluetooth, this device will presumably be able to link to any Bluetooth-enabled device, including laptops. So it's a possible replacement for those ubiquitous USB keydrives. And to expand on a point above, it could help qualitative researchers like me to collect data more easily than ever before, by drastically lowering the cost and hassle of the recording equipment I use in my observational and interviewing work. I have a chapter coming out in Amy Kimme Hea's collection that is relevant here.

technorati tags:storage, bluetoooth

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