Euro cellcos hoard nano Sims ahead of iPhone 5 launch
Order! Order!
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More evidence, perhaps, for the iPhone 5's not-far-off-now launch: European mobile network operators are eagerly ordering millions of nano-sized Sim cards.
Keen to avoid being stuck for suitable Sims - which happened when Apple launched the micro Sim-equipped iPhone 4 in 2010 - the cellcos are this time laying their mitts on as many of the next-generation, more easy to lose Sims as they can, the Financial Times claims.
ETSI's fourth form-factor (4FF) Sim - aka the nano Sim
Their notion: when Apple ships the iPhone 5 over here, they'll be ready to sell it to upgrade-hungry punters.
Apple and Nokia were at odds earlier this year over the design of the nano Sim, with the likes of Google-owned Motorola Mobility and RIM suggesting a compromise design.
In the end, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) went with the Apple proposal: a 12.3 x 8.8 x 0.67mm Sim card that's 40 per cent smaller than the micro Sim but backwards compatible with the older design, to allow the new Sim to work in an adaptor-fitted old slot. Apple's suggestion was backed by many a European mobile network.
And now they're Hoovering up nano Sims in preparation, no doubt, for the iPhone 5 launch. ®
COMMENTS
Re: Why? No!
No! The universal sim card is the consumer's bulwark against any lock-in shenanigans from the telcos and manufacturers. It is the basis of free movement between phones ans networks. If your contract is unfavourable, that's is a different matter.
Maybe Apple hates the way SIMs give power to the consumer but they must not be allowed to dilute it by spreading non-standard interfaces. That can be no engineering reason to change the SIM. Even full size sims are tiny compare to the size of today's smart phones.
Why?
Why do we need yet smaller sims? As long as they are smaller than the phone, they will be fine.
Re: I think I'll pass, thanks.
At one point we were heading towards a point where sim cards would need to get smaller with the ever decreasing size of phones. But smaller sims in larger phones is just stupid. 2FF would have been fine for Iphone 4 and Galaxy S3.
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