Consumer Electronics Association Places Hitachi Microdrive Among Eight Technologies Women Want.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies today announced that its Microdrive 3K6 product is a “girl’s best friend” based on a survey conducted by Consumers Electronics Association (CEA) Market Research. The survey, entitled “What Women Want,” sampled more than 1,600 adults (men and women) to determine the features and functions women prefer in their consumer electronic devices. A panel of industry experts then used the survey results to identify products that best matched women’s desires in eight categories of consumer electronics.

Hitachi’s world-renowned one-inch hard drive -- the Microdrive 3K6 – was declared the winner in the Digital Imaging category, where survey respondents determined great picture quality and the ability to easily share photos to be must-have features. Overall, the survey found ease-of-use, reliability and a lightweight design to be the most important attributes in women’s selection of consumer electronics.

“The Microdrive as a girl’s best friend makes absolute sense, because it allows women to keep so much of what means most to us at hand to share and treasure,” said Becky Smith, vice president, marketing & strategy, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. “While we didn’t design the Microdrive specifically for women, we certainly integrated their requirements for simplicity, portability and durability into the fabric of the product. We added high capacity to this list and developed the ideal storage solution for handheld consumer electronics.”

Winning products in the eight consumer electronic categories that appeal to women, including the Microdrive 3K6, will be featured at CEA’s “Technology Is a Girl’s Best Friend” Diamond Product Showcase to be displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The showcase will be located in the Sands Expo and Convention Center lobby, January 5-8, 2006.

The Hitachi Microdrive 3K6 offers 6 gigabytes* of storage capacity in a one-inch drive. In other words, that’s 6,000 digital photos (1 MB each), 1,500-3,000 songs or eight hours of MPEG-4 video** -- all in a device that’s smaller than the typical matchbook. Introduced in 1999, the Microdrive led the penetration of small-from-factor hard drives into consumer electronic devices, spanning digital still/video cameras, digital music players and multi-media handheld devices.

Product Availability
The Hitachi Microdrive 3K6 is available at retails stores nationwide in the removable Compact Flash Type II form factor. The 3K6 is also available in an embedded version.