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The GSMA, the boys and girls who invented the standard that delivers mobile communications to practically every single human being on the planet, has formed a task force that is set to investigate what the future of mobile devices might be like if SIM cards were embedded with new products and they could then be remotely activated. This isn’t to say that they want to make today’s swappable SIM cards a thing of the past, they just want to enable new product categories to be created so that devices that traditionally haven’t been connected, like cameras and MP3 players, can finally get some good old internet access.
The group that’s doing the research has people from AT&T, China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom Orange, KT, NTT DOCOMO, SK Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone. That’s pretty much every major operator in the world. They have to deliver their results by January 2011 and embedded SIM cards should find their way into products that hit store shelves in 2012.
“The traditional SIM has been an important innovation in mobile telephony, and has provided many benefits to consumers in terms of security, portability of contacts, and ease of portability of devices across networks,” said Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board of the GSMA. “As our industry moves from connecting phones to connecting a wide range of devices, it is apparent that the embedded SIM could deliver even greater flexibility. The embedded SIM will provide assured levels of security and portability for consumers, as well as provide additional functionality for enabling new services such as e-Wallet and NFC applications.”
As long as we don’t up living in a world where the devices we buy are locked beyond all belief to one particular operator or country, I’m happy. The best thing about today’s SIM card technology is that I can land in just about any European or Asian airport and buy a SIM card in less than 5 minutes and shove it into a cheap Nokia.
[Via: Engadget]
About The Author
Stefan Constantinescu
Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.
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