Comments on “Air of desperation encircles SIM Summit” • The Register

Comments on: Air of desperation encircles SIM Summit

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Check your sources!

By William Posted Wednesday 25th April 2007 12:30 GMT

Dear BIll (Ray),

Your article "Air of desperation encircles SIM Summit" is very negative about the SIM card industry and I believe some details need to be added to counter balance some of your points.

The SIM Summit in Prague was replaced by the European SIM industry by the SIMposium event in Berlin. It seems that Informa did not accept the move from the industry and maintain the event in Czech Republic. As a consequence, no European SIM actor is present in Prague, which probably led to the rather unpleasant experience you report.

Yet, it seems fair to make a difference between the current SIM industry evolution and your experience of SIM2007.

Secure Banking

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Unlike written in the article, there are mechanisms widely deployed on the market that allow Telecom operators and other industry (like banks) to store their secrets on the card. Mainly based on Global Platform, consortium originally led by a financial institution...

Contactless

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I would like to see your sources! All current pilots being deployed on contactless mobile services utilise the SIM cards to guarranty the security and the user interface (See France Contactless pilots press release of the last 6 months just as an exemple).

Content

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Again, check your sources. There is no need for a specific user GUI in the handset to access SIM content. The same interface as the one use for external memory card is enough.

Conclusion

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At last a mention of the SIMposium! Next year, book your time to Berlin, not Prague...

Regards.

I was in Prague too

By Anonymous Coward Posted Sunday 6th May 2007 20:39 GMT

I used two South African phones in Prague and they roamed perfectly. I am also confident that I will be billed correctly for the calls that I have made and received. SIM's worked pretty well in Prague.

In addition, I made a number of payments and other banking transactions utilising the advanced SIM-based solutions that more than one bank deployed on SIM cards in South Africa. This has been done in collaboration with the local mobile operators and this worked extremely well as well (while roaming in Prague.) I don't understand the "Air of Desperation"....

Ah, now I get it: the European banks and Mobile Operators are still talking and defining standards. They are not sure about "business models" and who "owns the customer". Nothing has changed.