While Sony and SanDisk are working on their SxS format, Panasonic already has something coming down the production line that will seemingly tackle the exact same market: high-end digital cameras. While you, yourself, may not be all that interested in the Panasonic P2 memory card, you may be interested in the fact that Panasonic is set to drastically lower prices on the format, indicating that flash memory is getting much, much cheaper.

What’s more, they’re going to start offering the P2 cards — which apparently just pack several SD cards together into one tight package — in larger capacities. The 4GB model is set to be discontinued, whereas the 8GB version will drop in price for $1,300 to $700. A 16GB variation will be available for $900, whereas the granddaddy of them all, the 32-gigger, is scheduled to ship in November with an asking price of $1,800.

As these prices continue to drop, we can start to anticipate their implementation (or similar formats, anyways) into things like portable media players and notebook computers. The spinning platter of a hard drive may soon be a thing of the past, sort of like what happened to 5.25″ floppies.