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Apple Still Fighting for Smaller SIM Card Standard for Future iPhones
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What Engadget have written IN FULL:
Giesecke & Devrient's nano-SIM design is fueling quite the standards battle over in Europe, with Apple sitting in one corner, and the troika of Motorola, Nokia and RIM looming in the other. That's according to the Financial Times, which reports today that Cupertino is leading a charge to push its own nano-SIM proposal through Europe's standards body, ETSI, much to the chagrin of its competitors. According to FT's sources, Apple's version of the nano-SIM would call for a "drawer" to protect it, much like the designs already featured in the iPhone and iPad. Though the standard would be available to all manufacturers under license, there's a lingering fear that Apple may eventually own all the patents pertaining to its proposal. Plus, its rivals would have to re-engineer their handsets to meet Apple's proposed design, even though Nokia claims its solution offers "significant technical advantages." ETSI is slated to vote on the proposals next week, but FT claims that the company has already garnered support from most of Europe's providers. Just to be sure, though, Cupertino is applying to become the largest voting member at ETSI, and is looking to register a full six European subsidies under its name. Each subsidy can wield up to 45 votes, meaning that if approved, Apple would overtake Nokia as the organization's largest voting body. Nokia, for its part, has filed a document in protest.
So yes, it is crazy to want smaller SIM cards, just bloody integrate it into the phone! They are too small as it is! But whilst it does read as though Apple is basically trying to bully it's own way through the voting, I guess it will have to do that to beat Nokia if they are already the biggest voting group.
However you need to think, will this new standard Apple want affect every single device in the world that uses a SIM card? Because that's a hell of a lot more devices then just your mobile phone..
I would rather Apple did NOT have any of the patents at all, because we all know it will end up with Apple suing everyone and the consumer loosing out. And I don't want the iPhone to end up like that, I love it and would rather it wasn't tarnished with litigation.
But just why Apple wants to make smaller devices or thinner devices is beyond me? All the thinner phones then the iPhone have the current SIM standard, why change it?
I would guess though that as it seems no other manufacture wants the change, it's because it's Apple wanting the change and wanting to own the patents and I guess they hate Apple's business ethics, well lack off, and they know it means yet more litigation cases to feed the hungry money monster? Apple really is trying to become your only choice isn't it?
Giesecke & Devrient's nano-SIM design is fueling quite the standards battle over in Europe, with Apple sitting in one corner, and the troika of Motorola, Nokia and RIM looming in the other. That's according to the Financial Times, which reports today that Cupertino is leading a charge to push its own nano-SIM proposal through Europe's standards body, ETSI, much to the chagrin of its competitors. According to FT's sources, Apple's version of the nano-SIM would call for a "drawer" to protect it, much like the designs already featured in the iPhone and iPad. Though the standard would be available to all manufacturers under license, there's a lingering fear that Apple may eventually own all the patents pertaining to its proposal. Plus, its rivals would have to re-engineer their handsets to meet Apple's proposed design, even though Nokia claims its solution offers "significant technical advantages." ETSI is slated to vote on the proposals next week, but FT claims that the company has already garnered support from most of Europe's providers. Just to be sure, though, Cupertino is applying to become the largest voting member at ETSI, and is looking to register a full six European subsidies under its name. Each subsidy can wield up to 45 votes, meaning that if approved, Apple would overtake Nokia as the organization's largest voting body. Nokia, for its part, has filed a document in protest.
So yes, it is crazy to want smaller SIM cards, just bloody integrate it into the phone! They are too small as it is! But whilst it does read as though Apple is basically trying to bully it's own way through the voting, I guess it will have to do that to beat Nokia if they are already the biggest voting group.
However you need to think, will this new standard Apple want affect every single device in the world that uses a SIM card? Because that's a hell of a lot more devices then just your mobile phone..
I would rather Apple did NOT have any of the patents at all, because we all know it will end up with Apple suing everyone and the consumer loosing out. And I don't want the iPhone to end up like that, I love it and would rather it wasn't tarnished with litigation.
But just why Apple wants to make smaller devices or thinner devices is beyond me? All the thinner phones then the iPhone have the current SIM standard, why change it?
I would guess though that as it seems no other manufacture wants the change, it's because it's Apple wanting the change and wanting to own the patents and I guess they hate Apple's business ethics, well lack off, and they know it means yet more litigation cases to feed the hungry money monster? Apple really is trying to become your only choice isn't it?
Last edited:
ncaissie
macrumors 6502a
The sim card let you replace your phone without having to go through the phone company. I have an iPhone 3GS and Xperia Play and can switch between them any time I choose.
mertyz
macrumors regular
In my opinion, SIM cards should be ditched completely. I don't own multiple SIM cards so I don't see/touch it unless I buy a new phone. However, it is pretty obvious that at some point, we will stop using physical media to store the subscription information. As obvious as it is, why are we still trying to make it only a little smaller every X years, instead of getting rid of completely? It would be a win-win-win situation for phone manufacturers, carriers and customers. Phone manufacturers would have to fit less internals inside the phones, carriers would spend less money on little plastics (SIM cards) and their packaging and most importantly; customers would be less tied to the carriers. We can change our data plans etc. via an SMS message today, why shouldn't we able to do the same for our carrier subscriptions? I can understand that carriers wouldn't want such a change because of the last pro I have just listed but I can't understand why some customers are objecting to it? We have the technology to make such change and phone manufacturers can support both technologies during the migration period to make customers' lives easier. Why the wait?
Regarding patents, I think no standard should be under control of a single company.
Regarding patents, I think no standard should be under control of a single company.
I think you have a very good point about Apple forcing its way on customers and partners. I think you have all the negatives because of the way you worded it.
What Apple needs is competition. They have GIANT Headed Leaders who project the company as untouchable, which will eventually lead to a slow decline. (I realize that is hard to believe with their recent success 🙂 )
You haven't actually read 1984, have you? Here's a spoiler, it wasn't about sim cards.
Stop making sense🙂
It is of course possible to create an e-sim or other identifier without even having a sim.
Why would anybody even have to switch a sim if it was all electronic?
Networks could show up in system preferences like WiFi and be selected on a per usage basis without any plans.
In an ideal world the device broadcasts its existence to any network and we
could even choose any carrier. Say you are in a bad Verizon area , you could switch to the ATT network or whoever has the strongest signal in that area.
Or, if you a world traveler you can log into that country's network as you need to.
Would give the providers a heart attack though.
It's called evolution. Like why didn't God create man at the very beginning instead of evolving us from pond scum over multi-millennia?
Verizon and AT&T don't use the same tech or frequencies, so if you can't even switch from then anyway.
And if you use GSM carriers, which pretty much most the world does, then having a SIM card in your pocket or wallet isn't exactly difficult. But hardly anyone does it, since most GSM networks have good coverage.
I would take your -32 rating on this post as a badge of honor.
Just be thankful you haven't been reported to MacRumors, like I have before for criticizing Apple, well yet! LOL
Apple is indeed slowly becoming its 1984 commercial. Apple has almost total control of the lemmings here. Oh, and let's not forget that famous PC users walking off a cliff commercial. That also applies! 🙂
robogobo
Suspended
Apple wants/needs the drawer because there is no battery door like on other phones where the sim card can be placed. How else could a user put a SIM card into an apple device?
Wow, what a totally ignorant comment. As if every other manufacturer out there is looking for more competition.
the8thark
macrumors 601
Works well today sure. But there is always something better out there. it just has to be invented and get those stubborn officials to accept it.
If we follow your way of thinking people would have never used cars because the horse was a system that worked so well. And the cars scared the horses on the road. But common sense prevailed and the new technology won.
The same with Apple here. Sure the old system works well. But someone needs to thinking to the future to improve things. And I'm glad Apple are.
Fine - but for something like this - there shouldn't be a patent involved. If there is to be a universal standard than no one should own a patent on it.
SIM cards (regardless of size) are still particularly useful for the regular feature phone market. SIM cards can store contact info, making address book migration relatively easy when switching devices.
The necessity for this isn't going away anytime in the immediate future.
That feature -- built into the original SIM specification -- is still relevant to a large number of cellphone users and will be for years to come.
The necessity for this isn't going away anytime in the immediate future.
That feature -- built into the original SIM specification -- is still relevant to a large number of cellphone users and will be for years to come.
You can't honestly believe that the difference would allow for a bigger battery? Even if it did, the battery would be, what, .0001% bigger?
ericrwalker
macrumors 68030
Standards change, technology changes. They probably couldn't make them smaller at one time or there was no need. Now Apple wants to make the sim smaller to make room for other parts.
You'd be very naive to think that Apple doesn't send checks to many scores of patent owners for every iPhone sold. Apple should receive checks from others when their ideas are used, just as Apple pays them.
SIM cards is a legacy product so that the carriers can control the phones. Remember just 5 years ago how carriers branded their phones and filled them with crap ware. SIM is the same thing.
There is nothing technically that could use the internal memory on the phones for the "SIM" information.
To bad that the carriers are so greedy.
Just look at AT&T and their problems. To make more profit they have only 1/3 of the cell density as is recommended by the base station makers. AT&T says is becuse they dont get permits to build more cell towers. 🙄
The whole data cap is another example. When a base station is deployed it does not matter for the cell company if it idles or is at 100% load. The data caps is in effect so that its lover loads in the base stations = have to build less.
Cell carriers should be flexible. When the base station have free capacity, let the customers use it. Put the cap when the cell tower is at full load.
There is nothing technically that could use the internal memory on the phones for the "SIM" information.
To bad that the carriers are so greedy.
Just look at AT&T and their problems. To make more profit they have only 1/3 of the cell density as is recommended by the base station makers. AT&T says is becuse they dont get permits to build more cell towers. 🙄
The whole data cap is another example. When a base station is deployed it does not matter for the cell company if it idles or is at 100% load. The data caps is in effect so that its lover loads in the base stations = have to build less.
Cell carriers should be flexible. When the base station have free capacity, let the customers use it. Put the cap when the cell tower is at full load.
My HTC Sensation 4G has a SIM card that is NOT micro-sized, a micro-SDHC drawer of sorts that requires me to push on the card to release the latching mechanism, AND it has a replaceable battery. Previous phones have had the same size SIM card, and some of them made it more difficult to remove the SIM card when I moved it from the older phone to the newer phone. IF I want to return to an older phone, I can use the same SIM card. This has been necessary when a phone has malfunctioned due to steam getting into the phone's screen and when the phone was run over by the car (another family member, but I'm the one paying for the phones).
The same card should be capable of being used in whatever phone I buy. Apple doesn't have user-replaceable batteries or SDHC memory cards. That, in my opinion, is a mistake.
How should it be done?
The non Apple phones I have used have a clap that put the SIM into the right place. Takes even more space.
The drawer protects the SIM and makes it easy to insert and eject
BTW.
Most have forgotten that the first CDs used drawers/sleds. Protected the CD 100%, but it was to expensive for mass ´manufacturing.
Apple is a unique company that is prepared to pay a bit extra money for a better product. Take the original Imac. A standard PC case cost 25 dollars back then. The iMac case 60 dollar. Almost all companies just blindly looks at cost and prefer the 25 dollar case only Apple used a more expensive case.
This is one of the reason why Apple products are more expensive even if Apple don't have larger marginals then for example MSFT, Intel or Google.
But its better to make 30% profit on a 600 dollar Iphone then 50% profit on a 15 dollar MSFT Phone OS. This is the reason for the hyped "Apple tax" that does not exist.
