Do SIM Cards Need Updating?

New SIM cards can hold several hundred kilobytes of data, meaning that a lot more can be done with them…although whether there is a demand for that is an important question. The Register reports on the SIM Summit, refering to what it calls an air of desparation as the industry tries to avoid being commoditised.

–“The most obvious application for a high-capacity SIM is to stick some content on it, either limited-function trials or some free content to encourage customers to get the hang of personalising…The problem here is that in order help the customer discover the content they need to have an easy-to-use interface, which must be pre-installed on their phone. But if the application is being pre-installed into the phone memory, then there’s no reason not to install the content there too: removing the need to support new SIM standards.”

–The function of the SIM is to provide security for phone use, which could be used for mobile banking if the telcos let other companies access the code — something that telcos will likely be unwilling to do. Which means a larger SIM card with more complex security…but there are already handset-based Java applications that may prove secure enough without need new SIM technology.

That’s the gist of El Reg — the new SIM cards are a solution looking for a problem. There is not mention made of moves by companies like Gemplus to use SIM cards as authentication tools for content on handsets, with the idea that copy-protected content will be transferable with a handset upgrade as long as the SIM goes along as well.

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