Apple gears up for Sim standard fight
A battle has broken out
between Apple and its rival smartphone makers over the standard industry
template for miniature Sim cards for the next generation of slimmer
handsets.
Apple is leading a bid against Motorola Mobility – which Google is in
the process of buying – BlackBerry parent Research In Motion and Nokia
for its technology to be recognised as the standard for the so-called
“nano-Sim”, an important technical step in the miniaturisation of
smartphones.Micro-Sims are already common in the latest generation of smart devices, such as Apple’s iPhone 4S and Nokia’s Lumia. The nano-Sim is thinner and about a third smaller than the micro-Sim, and would allow more space for other functions.
Apple is backed by most of the European operators. The two groups have tabled proposals to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
All handset makers would be able to use the design chosen under licence but the Apple-led proposal has caused some concern among its rivals that the US group might eventually own the patents.
The Sim is crucial to the design of future handsets, with one person with knowledge of the committee saying that the Apple-backed nano-Sim could require a “drawer” to protect it. “Phones would need to be re-engineered with this in mind,” the person said. Nokia said that its proposal had “significant technical advantages”.
Apple has considered dropping Sims in the past, although the move has met with opposition from operators that generate revenue from selling cards.
ETSI members will decide on the proposals next week. The voting process within the independent standards body has come under scrutiny this week following a move by Apple to significantly increase its number of votes.
According to documents seen by the Financial Times, Apple has applied to become the largest voting group in the organisation having registered six European subsidiaries to become full members at a meeting in Cannes yesterday. Any subsidiary with revenues of more than €8bn can have up to 45 votes. The decision on membership has been deferred until today.
However, in a document filed on Monday, Nokia asked “whether it is right that one group of companies can obtain a high amount of votes by filing multiple membership applications”. Nokia is the largest voting body with about 92 votes.
苹果打响下一代SIM卡标准争夺战
苹果(Apple)与其他智能手机制造商围绕一种超微型SIM卡的行业标准爆发了纷争。这种SIM卡将用于下一代轻薄型手机。
这场争斗的一方以苹果为首，另一方包括正被谷歌(Google)收购的摩托罗拉移动（Motorola
Mobility）、黑莓手机(Blackberry)制造商RIM(Reasearch In
Motion)以及诺基亚(Nokia)。苹果的目标是使自己的技术被承认为所谓的“nano-SIM卡”的行业标准。这种SIM卡是智能手机变得更小型
化过程中的一项重要技术。Micro-SIM卡在最新一代智能移动设备中已得到广泛使用，比如苹果的iPhone 4S和诺基亚的Lumia。Nano-SIM卡要更薄，尺寸也比micro-SIM卡小了三分之一左右，这样就能为智能移动设备省出空间来实现其他功能。
苹果的方案得到欧洲多数运营商的支持。竞争双方已向欧洲电信标准化协会(ETSI)提交了各自的方案。
所有手机制造商都能在获得许可后使用该协会选定的设计方案，但苹果主推的方案让竞争对手产生了一些忧虑，它们担心与该标准有关的专利最终可能会归苹果所有。
SIM卡对于未来手机的设计有着至关重要的意义。了解ETSI的一位人士认为，苹果主推的nano-SIM卡可能需要一个起保护作用的“小抽屉”。他说：“使用该方案，手机就需要重新设计。”诺基亚则表示，自己提出的方案具有“显著的技术优势”。
苹果过去考虑过放弃使用SIM卡，但遭到运营商们的反对，因为运营商可通过销售SIM卡获取收益。
ETSI的会员们将于下周决定采用哪种方案。这家独立标准制定机构的投票过程本周受到外界的密切关注。此前，苹果采取了一项行动，旨在大幅增加自己在ETSI的票数。
根据英国《金融时报》看到的材料，昨天在戛纳的一次会议上，苹果在欧洲注册的6个子公司申请成为ETSI的正式会员，如此便可使苹果成为该协会内拥 有最多票数的投票方。任何一家营收超过80亿欧元的子公司都可拥有最多45张票。到今天为止，该协会尚未就苹果子公司的会员资格问题做出决定。
不过，在周一提交的一份文件中，诺基亚提出了一个疑问，即“一家公司可通过提交多份会员资格申请来获得更多票数的机制是否合理”。目前，诺基亚在该协会内投票权最大，拥有约92张票。
译者/倪卫国
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