Apple’s 40 percent smaller Nano SIM proposal gets a go-ahead

Following an amusing public back and forth between Apple on one side and Research In Motion, Motorola and Nokia on the other, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) this morning decided to officially back Apple’s proposal for an upcoming miniaturized SIM card standard that provides for a thinner, smaller mobile devices…

According to the official announcement on the organization’s website, Nano SIM cards are 40 percent smaller, measuring 12.3mm x 8.8mm x 0.67mm thick.

The new form factor was adopted by industry with the involvement of major mobile network operators, smart card suppliers and mobile device manufacturers. The new design will be published in due course in ETSI’s TS 102 221 specification, freely available like all ETSI standards from the ETSI website.

The Verge did their homework and discovered that even though ETSI doesn’t mention Apple by name, it’s clear that the chosen Nano SIM variant is mostly based on Apple’s proposal.

 

 

According to ETSI, the new SIM card design“will offer the same functionality as all current SIM cards”. It will also be backwards compatible with existing SIM card designs.

It’s going to be an industry standard, RIM, Motorola and Nokia be damned.

The new form factor was adopted by industry with the involvement of major mobile network operators, smart card suppliers and mobile device manufacturers.

Apple previously pledged to provide the technologies pertaining to its Nano SIM variant on a royalty-free basis, if accepted by the institute.

Just don’t expect the next iPhone to feature a Nano SIM tray as the standard isn’t expected to take off before 2013.

Disappointed?