Floppy disc remains leading storage device in the mainland

The venerable 1.44 megabyte floppy disc is still the biggest-selling recording medium in the mainland, according to Sony Hong Kong.

With the increasing popularity of tiny, high-capacity USB-based flash memory drives, the floppy disc is becoming a technology antique. But Waynie So, head of recording media and energy sales for Sony Hong Kong, said its best-selling product was the floppy disc, which was still commonly used in the mainland to store data.

One of Sony's smallest and least known divisions, Mr So's department markets the company's vast line of recording tapes, CDs and other disc-based storage products in Hong Kong and the mainland. The division, however, does not sell memory stick products.

Mr So said while the total market size for floppy disks in the mainland was probably shrinking, Sony's market share in that segment had grown as consumers stop buying counterfeit floppy discs for trusted brand names such as Sony, Maxell and Imation.

In comparison, the market for floppy discs in Hong Kong had dropped dramatically and was limited to the occasional government tender, which tended to be small, said Mr So.

Tiny flash memory devices, or thumb drives such as Sony's Micro Vault series, are not only replacing floppy discs. Many of today's thumb drives also double as MP3 players and audio recorders. Sony last month launched three new USB storage products featuring biometric security and video-playing software and one USB drive that takes memory sticks. A 128 megabyte flash drive and MP3 player from local company WeWa!! sells for about $500 compared with $999 for the biometric Micro Vault, $599 for the one with video and $699 for the memory stick version.