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Last week we reported that Nokia, Motorola and RIM were squaring up to Apple over a disagreement about the future of nano-SIM cards. Now, Apple is proposing that its patented design could be used for free, by anyone—dependent on one, rather large, condition.
Currently there are two competing nano-SIM card designs, and Motorola, Nokia and RIM are nervous that Apple’s design might win out and lumber them with expensive ongoing licensing costs. Apple’s response to ETSI, the European Telecoms Standards Institute, is simple.
According to Foss Patents, Apple is happy “to grant royalty-free licenses to any Apple patents essential to nano-SIM, provided that Apple’s proposal is adopted as a standard and that all other patent holders accept the same terms in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.”
So, while Apple might be happy to make no profit from the concept, in return it demands an increased dominance and power over the market. Savvy. [Foss Patents via Engadget]
Image by Oleksiy Mark/Shutterstock
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“in return it demands an increased dominance and power over the market.”
Does it?
It means that although apple will make a loss in developing the SIM cards, the companies that make the other technology (such as reading the card, the housings etc) must allow apple to use that technology for free also.
If it costs more to buy the license for those parts than it would to sell the license for the sim, then apple will be better off from this deal.
I see
I don’t see the point of this, unless they are bringing in some new functionality. Come on, Apple, make it have NFC capability or something.
it’s something i like to think of as “mon-apple-isation”, which basically means apple don’t want the customer to have to interact with any other services than apple’s
Why do we even need these annoying nano sim cards? Are the current ones taking up too much room or something?
It’s not like the technology on the chip hasn’t changed at all on the existing ones. It’s been updated a few times yet still magically retains the same form factor!
Yes, they are taking up too much room. If you hadn’t noticed, modern phones are pretty small. The sim card and its socket take up room that can be better spent on something else. Making them smaller makes sense.
To clarify, by small I mean thin. Don’t get smart about the fact they have large screens.