Apple and Nokia are proponents of competing designs for the next-generation nano-SIM design, successor to the just-mainstream microSIM. The idea makes sense: a smaller SIM card means more space for other components.
The company producing the prototypes, Giesecke & Devrient, are at CTIA in New Orleans showing off Apple’s design for the nano-SIM, while Nokia’s supposedly-superior technical design is a no-show. Europe’s telecom standards body, ETSI, is expected to vote on which design is best by the end of the month. Nokia appealed to Apple to change the shape of the nano-SIM to prevent it from becoming mistakenly lodged in a microSIM slot. As a result they slightly elongated the non-contact portion of the card, bringing it slightly closer to the shape of the current microSIM.
Nokia’s design, which we haven’t seen, is apparently more radical and less backward-compatible with current microSIM slots. The ETSI members, of which G&D is a member, are currently voting on the preferred design, and once the decision has been made we can expect the changes to be implemented by next year.
Source: The Verge
