Nano-SIM cards are now a reality

Back in May, Apple proposed a nano-SIM card to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Apple stated that a SIM form factor smaller than the micro-SIM would allow manufactures to design smaller, thinner devices. Today the Munich-based technology provider, Giesecke & Devrient, or G&D, has issued a press release stating it has produced the world’s first nano-SIM card.

G&D created the first SIM card ever back in 1991 and is now pioneering the next incarnation of SIM cards in the form of the new nano-SIM. The new nano-SIM sports surface dimensions of 12mm x 9mm which is about 30 percent smaller than the micro-SIM, which is 15mm x 12mm, and almost 60 percent smaller than the 25mm x 15mm mini-SIM that most of today’s devices use. G&D did not give a specific thickness measurement for the new card, but did state that it has been reduced by 15 percent. This is particularly interesting because the prior three sizes of SIM cards have maintained a constant thickness of 0.76 mm.

G&D has also created an adapter to allow for backward compatibility with older devices and has sent samples of the nano-SIM to several mobile network operators for testing.  G&D is anticipating that the ETSI will implement the nano-SIM standard by the end of this year.

Axel Deininger, Head of G&D’s Secure Devices division, said, “The invention of the SIM card remains a milestone in the history of G&D. With the nano-SIM, we have shown how this development can move closer to perfection.”

G&D did not release any photos of the new card, however, the world will be able to get a first hand look at of nano-SIM at the CARTES & IDentification 2011 trade show, which runs November 15th through the 17th.

source: Giesecke & Devrient via Gigaom