MegaSIMs are here, at last!

The cards will be based on a Samsung chip. The cards that will be delivered to Telia Sonera customers, in the Nordic and Baltic states, come with a variety of information and applications: graphics and logos, settings files for modifying network parameters, a selection of pocket computer games, and a phonebook application. GalaxSIM uses the MMC interface of the P3600 PDA from HTC for speedy communication between card and phone: although the ETSI agreed on USB as the standard for a high-speed protocol (cf. Smart Insights #06-47), there are presently still no industrialized USB-enabled cell phones available on the market.

At the same time, Oberthur announced it used the available large memory of its GIGAntIC card to customize handsets. Oberthur set up collaboration with the embedded mobile software editor Abaxia to offer post issuance customization of handsets. Thanks to GIGAntIC’s large memory capacity any generic phone can be turned into a fully customized operator branded handset, with the most up-to-date applications, contents and interface,

Orange UK announced the end-user availability of its Super SIM, supplied by Sagem Orga, coming with 128 Mbytes of memory. The card communicates though the MMC protocol, even if the USB protocol was recently standardized (cf. Smart Insights #06-47). Orange is launching the Super SIM along with the HTC S310 Windows smartphone that supports MMC protocol only. Users will be able to put their own stuff on the Super SIM, via a simple USB connection to a PC, in the same way as any other removable memory in a Windows Mobile device.