We yesterday reported that battle between Apple and its rival smartphone maker has broken out over the next generation nano-SIM standard – the future of SIM card – where Apple is seeking to lead its way with the approval from European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). The Verge over on this received word from the Finnish mobile maker giant Nokia, pointing out that why its own proposal would be better from its rival for consumers and be able to withstand usage:
Apple’s proposal does not meet all of the pre-agreed requirements for ETSI’s planned 4FF standard (the so-called nano SIM). The proposal from Nokia, RIM and Motorola does.
Nokia believes that our proposal has features which would make it easier for consumers to insert and remove the SIM without damage. Additionally, our proposed SIM has different dimensions from a micro SIM, one of ETSI’s requirements, which would avoid it getting stuck if inserted by mistake into a phone with a micro SIM slot. Apple’s proposed card is the same length as the width of current micro SIMs and so would risk jamming, leading to card and product damage.
We also feel that our proposal allows for more design options for the type of card reader, i.e. how the SIM is inserted into the device, to allow for a wider range of device form factors. Requiring a tray or SIM carrier would reduce design options and increase manufacturing cost, perhaps not significant for high end smartphones but it would be for lower cost devices.
The combination of our proposed card and the associated mechanics are smaller than those for a current micro SIM, allowing further miniaturization in devices. Though Apple’s proposed card is smaller than current micro SIMs, when combined with the associated mechanics needed in the phone, we don’t believe it represents a significant reduction in size. We believe that in practice it would mean it was just different from micro SIM, rather than smaller, which could be a barrier to broad adoption as an alternative to micro SIM, potentially leading to fragmentation.
In summary, Nokia believes that our proposed nano SIM would be easier for consumers to handle, enable a wider range of device designs and offer a true difference from the existing options with micro SIM. We look forward to continuing the discussions in more detail with our counterparts in ETSI.
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is due to make its decision on the fate of the nano-SIM next week, but there have been issues raised over Apple’s use of a drawer for the SIM card. Nokia, Motorola and RIM have their own design, with holding significant technical advantages over the Apple’s own.
If as of now going on Nokia word, we have to believe somehow that the company do holds access to all the documents submitted to ETSI. FT earlier reported that Apple’s proposal would require a drawer of some sort and this seems to back that up. Nokia’s own proposal is easier for consumers to take a SIM card from a device. Nokia also argues that it would require more manufacturing time and it would be harder for smaller device makers to embed them in their own smartphones and tablets.
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