David: Please introduce yourself and explain your role at Kingston.

Mike: My name is Mike Sager and I am the Vice President of Corporate Communications and Customer Service at Kingston and have been with the company since 1990. While these may seem like unrelated responsibilities, overseeing both has given me a unique perspective on the marketplace and allows me to view our business from two unique, yet equally important perspectives.

Working with the media gives me a chance to understand what consumers are thinking based on what the media hears, and shares with us. It also allows me to review this information, along with what we hear directly from consumers to create support programs that are always in line with what our customers demand.

David: Flash memory has certainly enabled the boom (and transformation) of the camera industry. Can you give us some background on how flash became so important to picture takers?

Mike: Flash memory can be viewed as film for the 21st century and beyond and has drastically changed the overall imaging workflow of professional photographers, enthusiasts and consumers. Photographers no longer need to change a roll of film after taking 36 pictures and the way people can now share images has grown exponentially.

Photojournalists were the first to embrace digital photography because of the ability to shoot an assignment longer and transmit images to the newspaper on site. The ability to transmit, share and even print pictures on location (or vacation) has really put the fun back into photography for all levels of expertise. Today, we offer 8GB CompactFlash cards and 2GB SD cards for virtually endless shooting capabilities. And today, a 1GB CF card sells for about $67, making digital imaging extremely economical.

David: What's a camera going to look like in 10 years?

Mike: It is hard to say what cameras will look like 10 years from now but when you look back at past designs, they have changed drastically over the last few years.

Today, digital cameras have evolved from computer peripherals to imaging devices, which is what they are. And as such, have taken on more of the conventional 35mm SLR and point-and-shoot 35mm camera appearance. The cameras are certainly getting smaller, thanks to advancement in flash media such as SD cards and microSD and miniSD cards for cell phones.