Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. has today officially announced the new xD-Picture Card memory format. We first mentioned xD after it was rumored in Europe two weeks ago, and shortly afterwards uncovered the trademark, effectively confirming that the format was real. We've been digging off and on since then, and whilst we've found some patents that look somewhat related to the format, we've been unable to find anything definitive.

Now, though, we can reveal some of the details that have been missing thus far. Perhaps most impressive figure is the tiny size of these cards - just 0.79" x 0.98" x 0.07", with a weight of less than one tenth of an ounce. Compared to other common formats, this makes xD the smallest - 10% smaller than even the Memory Stick Duo card, and 1/5th smaller than the next nearest competitor:

Size alone doesn't tell the full story though - capacities are important to users too, and with SmartMedia stalled at 128MB a higher-capacity card is certainly called for to replace that format. Unfortunately, Chasseurs d'Images (who first broke this story) have done xD's backers a disservice, by grossly overstating the capacities that will be available at launch. Where Chasseurs suggested 1GB cards would be available pretty much from day one, the actual shipping capacities at launch will be 16, 32, 64 and 128MB, with 256MB cards promised "later this year". Fuji predicts cards as large as 8GB will be possible, but doesn't give a timeline for this impressive suggestion to become a reality. Equally interesting is that Fuji's release shows an xD to CompactFlash adapter being planned, suggesting that users of CompactFlash-based cameras may be able to use the cards with an adapter.

There's yet another reason xD's creators think their format could be a winner. Size and capacity are important, of course - but SmartMedia's limited capacity and CompactFlash's (comparitively) large size haven't prevented them from selling by the truckload. Perhaps even more important to users is reliability - if you lose pictures, or find (miles from home) that your card suddenly isn't accepted by the camera, you can't just buy another cheap roll of film and ignore the problem... xD's protagonists feel that many of its competitors have not controlled their standards tightly enough, which has lead to compatibility problems. They suggest that some CompactFlash cards even from major manufacturers now aren't compatible with some cameras, and SmartMedia is set for the same fate with low-end manufacturers making cards in Taiwan to laxer standards. There's a suggestion that similar problems could be on the way for Secure Digital and MultiMediaCard as well, but that xD is more rigidly defined and licensed to prevent this from happening.

xD's main test will be in adoption though, and that's likely to come down to a chicken and egg situation - will consumers buy cameras that use another new (and unfamiliar) format, and will manufacturers adopt the format in expectation that sales will pick up quickly enough? That remains to be seen, and the early life of the format will probably be a good indicator. If prices are low enough, and xD cards are easily available, it could catch on well - but if that formula isn't met, the format could face an uphill battle.