First phone to use Memory Stick Micro is unveiled

The M600 cell phone is a dual-mode 3G and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) handset based on the Symbian operating system. The candybar form-factor phone is 15 millimeters thick and has a 2.6-inch color display.

The phone also features an extended keypad of five keys in three rows, with each key corresponding to two keys on a QWERTY keyboard. The phone is targeted at business users and this keyboard design is said to make it easier to enter e-mail messages and other information. Push e-mail is supported and the phone includes a full HTML Web browser.

Sony Ericsson will sell it in North America, Europe and Asia. The phone will be on show at the 3GSM conference and exhibition in Barcelona later this month.

Memory Stick Micro was developed by Sony and SanDisk Corp. and is one of several recently introduced memory card formats that are being targeted at use in cell phones. It measures 15 mm by 12.5 mm by 1.2 mm, significantly smaller than the Memory Stick Duo card, which was the smallest card in the Memory Stick line-up. Sony is also calling the Memory Stick Micro card "M2" in marketing.

Sony plans to begin selling Memory Stick Micro cards in Europe in March. It will initially offer 256M-byte and 512M-byte cards and a 1G-byte card will be available from May, it said Tuesday. SanDisk will begin selling the cards in the second half of this year. Pricing has not been announced but Sony said it will be similar to current Memory Stick Duo cards.

Other competing memory card formats include Micro SD, which was originally developed by SanDisk Corp. as TransFlash, and MMCmicro, which was developed by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.