The memory card manufacturer Lexar has announced it will support the standard XQD and make them compatible with Nikon D4 and future cameras that implement this technology. The new cards will arrive in the next three months (third quarter of 2012 officially) and assume that provide a high speed read and write.
Lexar is working closely with Nikon in these new products claiming to be the way forward and make us forget the burden of an already rather old standard that has been updated over the years and which now has little to squeeze The CompactFlash.
Remember that format XQD flash memory card transfer interface uses the PCI Express (up to 2.5 Gb / s today), which allows a data transmission speeds far superior to others (it is estimated that up to 5 Gb / s in the future). And this movement, therefore, gives it a competitive advantage and market Lexar to date or Kingston or Transcend or SanDisk have announced plans to produce or not these cards, although presumably the latter does do it was one of the leading promoters of the format with Sony and Nikon.
The only camera for sale at this time that leverages technology XQD is the Nikon D4 , the flagship of the Japanese people, and it is expected that future professional range cameras incorporating it go to keep up. And the only brand that currently sells memory cards XQD is Sony , offering speeds up to 1 GB / s (that Nikon and Sony is looking more and more like a marriage, yes, the happy at the moment).
Do you end up imposing XQD and wiping out the SD and CF? How long will coexist? Only time will tell.