USB 3.0 devices are just now showing up for mass consumption and Super Talent is leading the charge, having just introduced the first USB 3.0 flash drive, which promises transfer rates of up to 320MB/sec.

If you have a USB 3.0 socket, you’ll get speeds up to 200MB/sec. If you use it in a USB 2.0 connector it will slow to USB 2.0 speeds of course. No word on a price or release date, but expect it to ship soon in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities.

USB 3.0 has been officially dubbed SuperSpeed USB. It boasts transfer speeds of 4.8Gbps and it will move a 25GB HD file in about 70 seconds. Interestingly the architecture was given extra data lanes for more streamlined transfer speeds, instead of bursts, which makes it play better with camcorders etc. It will charge your gadgets faster too, by delivering more power than USB 2.0 and its new polling architecture also makes it more efficient.

Unfortunately, your old USB cables won’t deliver SuperSpeeds. You’ll have to have USB 3.0 gear from end-to-end to get the speeds, because the cables have extra pins. It is all backward compatible. The cables have three plugs: The standard one you all know, standard B which is the square one and mini B which is a weird two headed thing and micro. The first USB 3.0-equipped gadgets should arrive sometime in 2010.

Intel along with HP, Microsoft Corporation, NEC Corporation, NXP Semiconductors and Texas Instruments Incorporated have announced the formation of the USB 3.0 Promoters Group with a goal of creating the next generation of USB interconnect for use with PC’s and other mobile and consumer gadgets.

As need for increased storage continues to grow along with larger file sizes, the need for a faster connection becomes increasingly important. The USB 3.0 will create a new standard that will be backwards compatible to support existing USB 2.0 and 1.1 connections while providing the ability to transfer data at 10 times the current speed available with USB 2.0.