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Smaller SIM Format Standardized
New submitter mk1004 writes "ETSI members have approved a new, smaller SIM format. 'The fourth form factor (4FF) card will be 40% smaller than the current smallest SIM card design, at 12.3mm wide by 8.8mm high, and 0.67mm thick. It can be packaged and distributed in a way that is backwards compatible with existing SIM card designs. The new design will offer the same functionality as all current SIM cards.' Nokia is not happy about the decision, as they believe their version was superior, but they say they're prepared to license the patents essential to the standard."
Nokia would hold the patents.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
The new design, being really similar to the old one, also means that Nokia holds the patents for it already.
That is what Nokia is saying they are licensing out, that they were threatening not to allow licensing of before... but they will go along to move the mobile industry forward.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Hope all phones that use these come with a tweezer and magnifying glass! This little sucker is gonna be hard to handle! lol
Nokia's design does the thing where you push it in once and locks in, and you push it in again and it pops out. The idea is that they're easier to remove.
The Nokia format was much worse in one crucial way related to usability: it was not pin-compatible with existing SIM and Micro-SIM cards so it could not be used in a device that used one of the larger formats without an adapter. Which means that the one advantage that SIM has over an serial number-based activation system would have been largely mooted.
er, could not be used with an adapter.
Sooner or later, we'll have to break compatibility. Apple broke compatibility with OS 9 software, DDR3 broke compatibility with DDR2, SATA broke compatibility with PATA, etc. It's great if you keep supporting older devices, but sooner or later you have to move on. Look at all of the issues Microsoft has supporting legacy apps and devices on the latest versions of Windows. Imagine how much sleeker and less buggy Windows would be if MS just said "Ok, Windows 8 will not work with any programs created for Windows 7 or earlier and will require DDR3 memory, SATA hard drive, USB mice and keyboards and a Blu-ray player".
If given the choice between an ever shrinking SIM card versus the alternative of getting on my hands and knees and begging the CDMA provider to allow my handset on their network, I'll take the SIM card.
Say I find a cool phone from overseas. GSM, I can use it here in the US, although I likely will get stuck with EDGE speeds. Overseas, CDMA providers use R/UIM cards (functionally identical to SIM cards). A CDMA provider here in the US would laugh and tell me where to stuff the phone, since they likely wouldn't allow any device near their network they didn't sell.
It also works the other way around. An unlocked iPhone that has dual radios can go for a world tour and generally find GSM access. A CDMA device that doesn't have a GSM secondary radio would be pretty much a neutered PDA outside CONUS.
That way the operator has a somewhat more limited involvement in handset choice.
Is there any reason the SIM card would have to be physical?
Yes. The SIM is a physical container that protects the computer and data inside it. Note that the SIM is actually a complete computer, not just a hunk of flash memory. When you access the SIM, the security sensitive stuff never actually leaves the SIM card. You don't have any actual access to the security sensitive stuff - the little computer inside the SIM accesses it on your behalf. If it were a software solution (virtual), you would have direct access (via a debugger or similar) to the security sensitive stuff (private keys). Since it is a very physically small hardware solution, you would have to physically disassemble it and hook up microscopic probes to the computer inside, which is very difficult.
With all the arguing you'd think there was more at stake than just how much plastic to cut off the old design.