We’re kind of all to blame for this one – or at least everyone who went out and snagged an iPod or iPhone.
The guys over at Macworld U.K. are reporting that flash memory prices have climbed 20% in the last two weeks. The article cites electronics wholesaler Chinavision.com, which has stated that the increased prices make Christmas gadgets more expensive this holiday season.
Short-term price boosts may be attributable to a recent power failure in a Samsung flash memory plant. The outage could have set production back by a week or more and created a worldwide shortage of flash memory, according to Chinavision.
An extremely strong demand for Apple products, namely the iPod and iPhone, may have compounded this. Apple is estimated to consume about 25% of the world’s flash memory supply for its products.
The news may be even worse for other companies, as smaller manufacturers of MP3 players have been forced to close shop in reaction to the price shift. “Their orders just dried up,” said Rose Li, PR manager for Chinavision.com. Li also commented that while flash memory price changes are historically known to be volatile, the latest jump has been both unusually severe and sudden.
An exact guess as to how dramatically the price fluctuation would affect holiday shopping was not immediately available.
If you have your two cents to throw in on this, let us know in the comments or forums.

We’re kind of all to blame for this one – or at least everyone who went out and snagged an iPod or iPhone.
The guys over at Macworld U.K. are reporting that flash memory prices have climbed 20% in the last two weeks. The article cites electronics wholesaler Chinavision.com, which has stated that the increased prices make Christmas gadgets more expensive this holiday season.
Short-term price boosts may be attributable to a recent power failure in a Samsung flash memory plant. The outage could have set production back by a week or more and created a worldwide shortage of flash memory, according to Chinavision.
An extremely strong demand for Apple products, namely the iPod and iPhone, may have compounded this. Apple is estimated to consume about 25% of the world’s flash memory supply for its products.
The news may be even worse for other companies, as smaller manufacturers of MP3 players have been forced to close shop in reaction to the price shift. “Their orders just dried up,” said Rose Li, PR manager for Chinavision.com. Li also commented that while flash memory price changes are historically known to be volatile, the latest jump has been both unusually severe and sudden.
An exact guess as to how dramatically the price fluctuation would affect holiday shopping was not immediately available.
If you have your two cents to throw in on this, let us know in the comments or forums.