T-Mobile announces tiny new "embedded SIM" for connected devices

Sure, SIM cards are small, but they're not tiny, and fitting the entire assembly into an embedded device requires a lot of space -- so T-Mobile's new embedded SIM system should make it possible to build even smaller connected devices like hospital monitors and smart energy meters that can report back to a server. The new SIMs are the size of a pinhead and made of silicon instead of plastic, which allows them to be coded at the factory and hard-mounted directly to a device, skipping the provisioning and installation steps that would come with regular SIMs. Devices with the new SIMs are expected to be out and sending data over T-Mo's network in as little as six months -- the first is an energy meter from Echelon that should hit soon.

[Ray @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:32PM]

This won't be good for the unlocked phone market...

[reuthermonkey1 @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:36PM]

This won't effect them. It's no different than how Kindle's are all Sprint wireless enabled. Cell networks are simply looking at alternative income avenues.

[LJKelley @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:38PM]

This has nothing to do with phones, this has to do with devices such as alarms, meter readers, etc where one would not change providers.

My home alarm has a sim card, but I doubt I could switch carriers anyways on it as it would require a reprogramming of the device to use new access points anyways. In this setting where the hardware is provided as part of the service that I use, having this new technology can make the devices smaller while still using the GSM technologies.

[Mark @ Apr 23rd 2009 5:03PM]

And why wouldn't you want to change providers? More than SIM-locking cell phones, this allows them to lock you into their service. And will they really subsidize the hardware for your subscriptiojn? I doubt it (then again, I could be wrong- look at subsudized netbooks.)

For stuff like alarms, meter readers, etc, reprogramming the numbers should be easy since most likely the hardware is sold at least nation wide if not worldwide, so it has to have some easy mechanism for doing that.

[Herbie555 @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:37PM]

More important than the size of the "SIM" itself is the ability to delete the very large pin contact and carrier assembly required for a removable card.

Along the same lines as companies moving to mini-USB then micro-USB connections, if you want to shrink the device you have to focus on the big chunky connectors and other such parts.

[Epsilon-Not @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:40PM]

See! There IS a benefit of CDMA over GSM!

[el Capitan @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:45PM]

haha :)

[Brian McClure @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:48PM]

This has nothing to do with CDMA vs GSM... so your comment makes no sense at all.

[Epsilon-Not @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:50PM]

@Brian McClure: The CDMA standard does not require any sort of SIM card equivalent, so there is no need to make a smaller SIM card when you can just not have one at all.

[el Capitan @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:55PM]

Which is ironic, bacuse it is a great disadvantage. What to use a different phone? Deal with the carrier. Ran out of battery? You wont be able to pop it into yr friends phone to receive that important call yr waiting for/ check messages / phone yr own acct.

[zephxiii @ Apr 23rd 2009 5:22PM]

Epsilon-Not, i'd rather have a SIM, so your point is NIL, and besides it doesn't matter anyways dummy, read the article lol (the solution).

[Epsilon-Not @ Apr 23rd 2009 8:20PM]

My post was a joke, SIM cards are obviously a huge advantage from the consumer's perspective... Honestly, does everything have to be spelled out?

[Game_playa @ Apr 23rd 2009 8:33PM]

Yes.

[Information Central @ Apr 24th 2009 5:17AM]

"You wont be able to pop it into yr friends phone to receive that important call yr waiting for/ check messages / phone yr own acct."

Wow, that's brilliant. You spelled out pretty much every word and used correct punctuation, but then used "yr" three times, for a total savings of six characters.

[j0nd4m4n @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:42PM]

Quite frankly, I think this is totally unnecessary. I don't remember a single instance where I went "oh, the phone is too big for me, only if they can make the SIM smaller"
If anything, I think phones are getting to small for normal hands, that's why I prefer smart phone so I can at least find the keys without too much problem. I cannot dial 911 on my G/F's Sony candy bar phone to save my life if I am blinded by, say Philips LED lights.

[Brian McClure @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:48PM]

And this is not targeted at phones... do people read articles before they post comments?

Think about other devices besides phones. This would save space on devices that would never have the need to switch carriers...

[Mark @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:49PM]

This isn't for phones. Read more.

[Clyde Berry @ Apr 23rd 2009 5:42PM]

So I can't make calls with hospital monitors or smart energy meters?

[the swiss @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:48PM]

soon they will figure out that they can order their branded phones with fixed sim cards like in korea or japan...

[Ralph Sylvain @ Apr 24th 2009 1:41AM]

Amazing how many people can't read. This has nothing to do with cellphones.

[GingerFox @ Apr 23rd 2009 5:12PM]

this is a good idea, if alot of the time sim cards are almost impossible to replace in these kinda devices, so it makes sense to shrink them like this

[jonshipman @ Apr 23rd 2009 5:23PM]

How long before Apple adopts this to thwart unlocking?

[bradley.will @ Apr 23rd 2009 10:34PM]

If they wanted to do that, they could just make the SIM inside the plastic shell so that opening it voided the warranty.

But they didn't, so I wouldn't be worrying if I were you.

[Christian @ Apr 23rd 2009 5:26PM]

I dunno about this...

There are times when I love using my google phone while I'm in the city but switch back to my older sony ericsson phone that I got from europe that doesn't die so fast cuz it has no 3G but does have a very good camera. I usually swap the sim card and I still get my calls and contacts. If they embed it instead if it being swappable...then they're realyl locking me to one phone even if the same provider.

[Tim @ Apr 23rd 2009 5:32PM]

%Title% ha

[Mark @ Apr 23rd 2009 8:20PM]

Oh shit, phones are next. AT&T and T-Mobile would LOVE to make their handsets as tightly locked-down as CDMA handsets.

[pika2000 @ Apr 23rd 2009 8:51PM]

Wow, more provider-locked hardware? A great way to move the wireless market backward. Awesome. What's next, 1GB caps?

[Fruition @ Apr 23rd 2009 10:23PM]

Of course this wouldn't effect the unlocked phone market. The unlocked phone market already exists.

[Fruition @ Apr 24th 2009 12:04AM]

Le sigh. This was supposed to be a reply to the first reply to the first post. Oh well. It wasn't that clever anyway.

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[Kaidaejin @ Apr 24th 2009 1:34AM]

It's not enough that Eschelon already secretly monitors your phone and email accounts*, now they want to secretly monitor your energy use aswell!
Where will it end!?

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON

[John @ Apr 25th 2009 11:44AM]

You're all stupid. Did anyone read the article? This is for M2M, not cell phones. Even though it is T-Mobile doing this, it has nothing to do with your cell phone. Believe it or not, T-Mobile has other products besides cell phones. This is a huge step for telemetry.