Tech & Biz

Micro Sim Cards Supported by the iPad, What is a Micro Sim?

by Amy Judd | January 27, 2010 at 05:55 pm

7489 views | 13 Recommendations | 2 comments

Micro Sim cards are one piece of technology that will be supported by the new iPad released today from Apple, but what is a micro sim?

The new iPad is said to support any GSM carrier with micro sims, with a regular SIM card being a chip in a cell phone that holds information. The micro sim is known as a 3FF or a 'third form factor' SIM and is a smaller version of a regular SIM card. The micro sim cards however are not physically compatible with SIM cards from AT&T or T-Mobile for example.

The micro sim cards were developed in Europe to fit devices too small for a regular sized SIM card. The micro sim or 3FF cards only measure 12mm x 15mm as opposed to 15mm x 25 mm.

"The 3FF is a size option that's fully acceptable and supported by the industry," said Jean-Louis Carrara, vice president of business development for telecommunications, at SIM card manufacturers Gemalto North America.

SIM cards actually used to be about the size of a credit card.

"Gemalto makes it possible for all carriers worldwide to punch out a 3FF SIM ... [Steve Jobs] mentioned publicly that the device will be available in 60 days. A lot can happen in 60 days," Carrara said.

Word is T-Mobile is planning to develop 3FF SIM cards as well.

Will micro sim cards make a difference to you? Or will they be yet another reason not to buy an iPad?

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Jordan Yerman

at 07:11 on January 28th, 2010

Existing mobile phones would carry on using regular-sized SIM cards- there isn't much reason to move to a smaller SIM unless you're trying to reclaim a few mm of space for other components. Also, there's the human factor: the smaller the SIM, the more difficult it is to swap. Ever watch someone try to pluck the SIM from their phone?

(whose usable size has been unchanged for many years- the credit-card-sized SIMs were mostly plastic)

Kevin Barbee (not verified)

at 06:24 on March 12th, 2010

I think the MicroSIM Card is an attempt by Apple to keep people from popping in their existing regular sized (non-AT&T) SIM cards, a concession to AT&T in order to garner the contract free option. It's not great, but on the whole, the contract-free data plan is worth the trouble a new SIM format will cause.