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Nano-SIM for next iPhone makes appearance ahead of launch?
First we saw a supposed leak of the next iPhone's nano-SIM tray, and now we're seeing alleged photos of the nano-SIM itself. iFun posted an image of what it says is a new T-Mobile nano-SIM that has just started arriving at the German carrier. The package apparently came with a message telling carriers that these SIMs are for smartphones about to go on the market, and that they're not to be given to customers -- yet. Cupertino, of course, tweaked its nano-SIM design earlier this year, and this photo does come ahead of an Apple announcement event rumored for next week.
Nano-SIM standard vote postponed while RIM accuses Apple of cheating
French newspaper Les Échos is reporting that the key ETSI vote to determine whose nano-SIM patent should become the standard has been postponed. The participating companies have failed to reach agreement after Nokia refused to license key patents to Apple in exchange for free use of Apple's technology. As a consequence, the vote will be postponed for a minimum of thirty days. Meanwhile, RIM has followed Émile Zola's example and screamed J'Accuse! at Apple, claiming that Cupertino is trying to rig ETSI's decision by registering its own personnel as representatives from Bell Mobility, SK Telekom and KT Corp. The BlackBerry maker has petitioned the standards agency to ensure that proxy voting is not allowed, in an effort to blunt Apple's alleged plan. You can read the full text of RIM's filing after the break.
nano-SIM's flimsy form factor poised to frustrate fleshy-fingered phone users forever
Most of us feel the average Subscriber Identity Module card is too small for our sausage-like digits, device makers loathe giving up that amount of space to an oversized plastic rectangle. Efforts to slim it down have been underway for ages, which is why some smartphones come with a micro-SIM, the easy-to-hold outer rim chopped off to make space for bigger batteries inside your device and to ensure your greasy fingers get all over the metal contacts. Sadly, it's time to wave goodbye to the idea of operating a smartphone without electron-tweezers, thanks to Giesecke & Devrient's new nano-SIM. The German fathers of the technology have shrunk the whole operation down to a 12mm x 9mm rectangle that's a third smaller than the micro-SIM and 60 percent smaller than the classic model: and as if to show off, it's also 15 percent thinner, too. The company will be exhibiting the chips tomorrow in Paris and has already sent initial samples to smartphone makers, expecting ETSI to sign off on the standard by the end of 2011 -- assuming they've been able to pick theirs off the table.
