News
Apple pushing for smaller SIM standard
By Charles Starrett
Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Tuesday, May 17, 2011
News Category: Apple, iPad, iPhone
Apple has proposed a new SIM card standard smaller than the micro SIMs found in the iPhone 4 and iPad, according to Reuters. “We were quite happy to see last week that Apple has submitted a new requirement to (European telecoms standards body) ETSI for a smaller SIM form factor—smaller than the one that goes in iPhone 4 and iPad,” Anne Bouverot, Orange’s head of mobile services, told the news agency. “They have done that through the standardisation route, through ETSI, with the sponsorship of some major mobile operators, Orange being one of them.” Bouverot added that the standardization process would take time and that the first devices to use the new standard could emerge next year.
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1
Do we really need a different SIM card format? One which is bound to be incompatible with the current generation of SIM cards when most manufactures disregarding Apple of course seem quite content using standard and micro SIMS.
Posted by Johnathan on May 17, 2011 at 11:05 AM (PDT)
2
Dear Apple:
Stop it!
Signed,
your customer base
Posted by JimmyBobSmith on May 17, 2011 at 3:51 PM (PDT)
3
Dear Whiners:
It’s for your own good! We won’t tell you how or why, but it is.
Deal with it,
Apple
PS: New iOS coming next week! Bug fixes and stuff.
Posted by camembert on May 17, 2011 at 4:14 PM (PDT)
4
An Orange executive told Reuters that Apple has proposed a standardized SIM card that is smaller than those currently found in the iPad and iPhone 4.
_____________
Monica.
Posted by Cheapest Ipod on May 17, 2011 at 11:41 PM (PDT)
5
Here is what I take issue with. Is a newer standard for SIM cards necessary? No. But how much technology is actually driven by “need”? If a product can be improved upon, then it should be improved.
With all of the electronics that we are expecting in our mobile phones today, space is becoming in issue. We want more battery life. We want better cameras. We want better displays. This all means the potential for less internal space. If we can save any room by using smaller (and just as capable) components, then we should do just that.
So stop vilifying Apple for wanting to improve something that you simply do not see the need to improve. Rather, hold your comments and be happy with the better performance it could provide to you in the coming years. I will gladly accept 15-20% more battery life (purely conjecture, I know) if it can be accomplished by using a smaller SIM.
Posted by Mitch on May 18, 2011 at 5:48 AM (PDT)
6
Mitch, have you actually looked at a SIM card, micro or otherwise?
Honestly, there seems little chance that making a SIM card that existed in a pocket dimension and therefore consumed no space at all in a future iPhone would actually leave enough room for anything that would actually make a difference in the functionality or form of the device. In all likelihood, the only thing Apple is attempting to do is make it harder for people to swap SIM cards with other devices.
Posted by Code Monkey in Midstate New York on May 18, 2011 at 8:42 AM (PDT)
7
You may indeed be correct CM. Micro SIM cards are indeed tiny. How much can be done with the space savings between a normal and a micro SIM card? I honestly do not know. Therefore I also do not know what an additional minuscule amount of space may allow when shrinking from micro to Apple’s “seriously-micro”. But I do believe that smaller, yet no less functional, components could allow for some other improvements. The card itself is not the only thing taking up space. The receptacle and on-board footprint for that card also come into play. If the card gets smaller, so do the pieces required to insert/house that card.
Again, how much can be gained? I do not know. But if Apple can produce a smaller (and at least as functional) SIM, who says it will not be the new standard. Therefore still allowing the transfer of said card to other devices now migrating to that new standard. I say no harm…no foul here yet. If it truly holds no validity, I believe it will be denied anyway.
Posted by Mitch on May 18, 2011 at 9:56 AM (PDT)