You are essentially correct Will. But, DDR3 wasn't originally planned (by Intel) back in 2004/5 to show up quite this early. Intel was originally talking the end of 2007 or early 2008 for a DDR3 introduction, but expect to hear in the next month or so that mid-2007 will be when DDR3 is commercially introduced -- probably in notebook / mobile computers first , then a few months later desktops and servers.
It seems that some of the larger notebook computer manufacturing folk out there (think Stevo and Mikey) want to take advantage of DDR3's better power consumption as soon as possible, not to mention the quick and easy road to 1600 MHz front-side bus speeds for desktop and server boxes.
The dark horse in the future of RAM is M-RAM (Magnetic RAM or Magneto-resistive RAM), with IBM, Toshiba, Sony, and a few others developing their respective versions M-RAM. M-RAM has the potential to be several times faster than any existing dynamic RAM -- not to mention the special ability to store data without the need for electrical power. But, the cost difference between M-RAM and dynamic RAM could end up keeping M-RAM out of the mainstream RAM market for years. The last I heard, some industry pundits were talking a 2009 introduction for volume M-RAM production. Back in 2001/2002, IBM was talking 2007 as a possible introduction for M-RAM.
One could assume that a "slow" (least expensive) grade of M-RAM might first appear (with great applause) in higher-end notebook / mobile computers, for the obvious reason that it would provide true instant on/off ability like never before. Over time, as manufacturing of M-RAM ramped up, super-speedy high-density grades of M-RAM would begin to permanently push out "old" D-RAM technology memories in all computer systems for good.
