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If you have an iPhone 4/4S or a Lumia 800 then chances are you’ve seen how ridiculously small of a SIM card it uses. That’s called a microSIM card. Back in May of last year, Apple said they wanted to make something even smaller, so they called up the folks who invent standards, in this case the ETSI, and said they want them to create a new nanoSIM standard. How big is a nanoSIM? It’s 15% thinner and has a footprint that’s 30% smaller compared to a microSIM. Last November Giesecke & Devrient showed off a nanoSIM in Paris, and we haven’t heard much about it since. Today though, there’s some news to share. According to the Financial Times, Apple’s proposed nanoSIM standard is facing opposition from the folks at Nokia, RIM, and Motorola. Nokia says that their nanoSIM proposal has “significant technical advantages” compared to Apple’s proposal since it doesn’t require a SIM card tray. Whichever design wins isn’t really important though in the grander scheme of things, and we’ll find out who to crown the victor as early as next week.
The story gets more interesting though. Remember the standards folks we mentioned earlier, ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute)? Apple is trying to increase the number of votes they have in that organization by registering 6 different subsidiaries, each capable of having as many as 45 votes. Just to give you some comparison, Nokia with their 92 votes is the biggest company to take part in ETSI. Why is Apple trying to take control of the standards body? Probably to make them innovate faster, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though it’s easy to see why the incumbents are scared silly.
There’s one question that isn’t getting a lot of attention however, and that’s why we’re still using SIM cards in the first place? Shouldn’t all phones be connected out of the factory and then all we have to do is enter some sort of passcode to put our number onto said device?
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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http://twitter.com/abouillot Alexandre Bouillot
