Apple’s Nano Sim Win & June iPhone 5 Trutherism
Posted by Michael Nace on Friday Jun 1, 2012 Under Apple News, iPhone 5 OpinionApple finally managed to convince the ETSI — and the rest of its competitors — to adopt their new 4FF “Nano Sim” standard, which clearly gives Cupertino a design that favors a thinner iPhone 5. Does Apple’s move to fast-track this vote lend any credence to “June iPhone 5 Trutherism?”
We’ve made it a point to follow the story line involving Apple, its ill-received “Nano sim” card standard, and the ETSI vote on it. After months of delays, due to Apple’s competitors’ alarm at what a quick adoption of the new, so-called “4FF” standard might do to their own smartphone production schedules in 2012, Apple managed to get their way.
PC World reports that: “[t]he Smart Card Platform Technical Committee of the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) agreed a standard for so-called nano-SIMs on Friday. Apple’s specification beat a competing proposal from Nokia, Research In Motion and Google-owned Motorola Mobility.”
The iPhone 5 rumor mill began following the story about the Nano sim standard based on the fact that this new design would fit nicely into the belief that Apple is working on an iPhone 5 that is/was supposedly to be markedly thinner. I don’t know that the recent 9to5Mac photos of purported leaked iPhone 5 parts necessarily reveals a radically thinner form factor, but at the very least, the Nano sim standard is still believed to be a necessity for the new iPhone’s overall design, since it “. . . will be 40 percent smaller than the current smallest SIM card design, at 12.3 millimeters by 8.8 mm by 0.67 mm, according to ETSI.”
You’ll recall that one of the first iPhone 5 part leaks this year was that of a sim tray, which at face value seemed to be remarkably similar to the ones used on the iPhone 4 and 4S. It remains to be seen at this point how veracious that leak really was, and whether that tray could still be associated with the 4FF standard. But considering that the tech media has moved well past both the leaked sim tray and home button stories to the juicier bits recently offered by 9to5Mac, many are likely to overlook how this ruling might negate any hope of the sim tray story being true.
Entirely absent from the PC World story is how this late-hour victory for Apple might impact the release date of the iPhone 5. June-announced iPhone 5 truthers have surmised that’s Apple’s rather desperate pitch to get their Nano sim standard enacted (remember, they gave away the new standard royalty-free) might speak to Cupertino’s need to shore up the passage of the standard in time for a June iPhone 5 announcement and July release. The article did, however, report on the dismay from RIM and Nokia over the adoption of the new standard, with this cryptic line:
“Nokia, for its part, accused Apple of misusing the standardization process and said that it wouldn’t license essential patents related to Apple’s proposal if that proposal won.”
I would love to get some clarification of how Nokia thinks that Apple “misused” the standardization process, as it could very well be making reference to the fact that Apple fast-tracked the new standardization in order to force its competitors to retool competing 2012 smartphone designs while giving themselves the opportunity to release the iPhone 5 ahead of them. If this is the case, it would have been a risky gamble for Apple, since, if they had failed to gain passage of the standard and iPhone 5 production is predicated on it, it would have caused further delays.
June iPhone 5 trutherism still remains on the fringe of the tech media, with the majority of pundits and enthusiasts eyeing October as the iPhone 5 release. However, the fact that the Nano sim issue has been resolved at this time is yet another stand of evidence that truthers can use to ratchet up hope for an iPhone 5 announcement at the WWDC.
By Michael Nace
Michael Nace is the Publisher of the iPhone 5 News Blog and iPhone 6 News Blog. He has published articles about the iPhone since 2010.
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June 1st, 2012 at 12:28 pm
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June 1st, 2012 at 2:00 pm
VZ (and Sprint) sim access is locked in the US. I haven’t seen a jailbreak that would get around it to use on another US carrier. VZ and Sprint will unlock the sim card so you can use it overseas. It works perfect, no issues.
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June 1st, 2012 at 2:11 pm
That’s what I believe, everything is falling in place now. All we need litterly is how big the battery is going to be, and we got ourselves an iPhone. June announcement, here we come! I’m a truthier – if that’s what we iPhone 5′ers for June announcement are going by these days.
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June 1st, 2012 at 2:44 pm
@Braden and maybe another increase in Hard drive. I’m unaware of any other smartphones with 120gb of memory in them, would be neat if Apple would do it.
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June 1st, 2012 at 2:44 pm
ZTis tension is exciting! I must know!
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June 1st, 2012 at 2:49 pm
I’m just not buying it. If Apple is “doubling down” on leaks then they are doing a terrible job at it…especially with how many parts 9to5mac has been showing off in the last week or two. Something tells me that those are old prototype parts or fakes that Apple wants out there to throw everyone off.
With a slightly longer screen, smaller dock connector, and moving the headphone jack to the bottom….is that really the best design that Apple can come up with after 2+ years??!! If so then I think we will begin to see the demise of Apple products. I just don’t believe it. I’m calling it a bluff. I think Apple will surprise us with something much more amazing!
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June 1st, 2012 at 2:56 pm
@mike d
History has taught me not to get overly high expectations about Apple events as it leads to disappointment. I agree after 2+ years they could produce something amazing but I’m not banking on it. Expectations tell me to accept something a little more evolutionary.
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June 1st, 2012 at 3:08 pm
I don’t think any iPhone wil be a huge change. The iPhone was revolutionary. The iPhones after are evolutionary.
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June 1st, 2012 at 5:16 pm
@spastic, I think you mean 128gb!
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June 1st, 2012 at 5:19 pm
@mike D. I agree with you 100%. If this is the best they can come up with after 2 years on the same design then I’m not sure what happened to there design department. A company who prides itself on sleek and stunning wouldn’t have the same design for that long in my eyes. They did it with the iphone -> 3g -> 3gs but they didn’t have really any competition till then nor was the original iphone adopted near as much as the other 2. I don’t think they could just elongate the screen and call it good. That doesn’t sound like apple to me but I could be wrong. I may believe that they will announce the iphone at wwdc but i don’t think it’s this
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June 1st, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Just because there is smoke does not mean there is a fire. Who is to say these aren’t intentionally leaked to throw people on a wild goose chase after these rumors?
If Tim Cook is right about the new iPhone being revolutionary and keeping all secrets locked down, then the misleading parts, pictures etc make sense.
Tim Cook and Apple are like magicians right now, they have you staring at their right hand while the left is plucking your wallet.
I have no great opinion if they are releasing in June or not but if they do, it will be Tim Cook’s defining moment.
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June 1st, 2012 at 6:56 pm
“Tim Cook and Apple are like magicians right now, they have you staring at their right hand while the left is plucking your wallet.”
I need to learn that trick
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June 1st, 2012 at 7:04 pm
Thanks for your comment, PW. You said: “Who is to say these aren’t intentionally leaked to throw people on a wild goose chase after these rumors? If Tim Cook is right about the new iPhone being revolutionary and keeping all secrets locked down, then the misleading parts, pictures etc make sense.”
I still cannot imagine what Apple would have to gain from releasing bogus iPhone 5 parts prior to the WWDC. All it is doing is making people believe in an iPhone 5 WWDC announcement. If Apple ends up not announcing it at the WWDC, but leaked these fake parts, all they would have done is dash people’s hopes for a June announcement.
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June 2nd, 2012 at 1:13 am
@Michael I think PW is right! It just doesn’t imply a WWDC announcement, but it also gives the next iPhone some publicity without actually releasing it formally. It’s getting people riled up with the wrong stuff so they get surprised when the real thing comes out and is completely different. The may be giving a twist to the whole missing iPhone 4 prototype scandal by doing the opposite: the newfangled iPhone parts are leaked people believe it, but instead of it being the actual iPhone that will be released it’s a lie and the actual new phone is fantastically new and revolutionary. At least that’s my opinion…..
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June 2nd, 2012 at 3:29 am
What do you think about that ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ6WM5m63fU
Could be a fake, or ?
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June 3rd, 2012 at 1:34 am
Honestly, I like the iPhone form factor just the way it is. All I want is more internal stuff like battery improvements, processor, ect… Kindof like the 4s; however, I think they should focus on the software side more. Am I the only one who would prefer mind boggling features instead of a new design?
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June 4th, 2012 at 6:47 am
Sorry to spoil the WWDC iPhone 5 release or reveal party, but Apple always announces the next major iOS version at least 4 months before the reveal of new iPhone hardware. Why? Because the iOS version HAS TO BE READY for when the iPhone is released. That takes time when in BETA and released only to developers.
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June 4th, 2012 at 10:12 am
Thanks for your comment, SJ. You said:
“Sorry to spoil the WWDC iPhone 5 release or reveal party”
I kind of don’t think you’re really sorry.
“Why? Because the iOS version HAS TO BE READY for when the iPhone is released.”
Why? Because that’s what Apple has done in the past? The same could have been said last year in June as the WWDC approached: “Apple will have to release the iPhone at the WWDC, because that’s when they have always released it.” The fact is, Apple need not release the iPhone 5 with iOS 6. This is especially true because, with the exception of Maps and an upgraded Siri, iOS 6 is probably going to be a UI refresh — it isn’t going to look and feel all that different from iOS 5.1. The real sales hook for the iPhone 5 is going to be hardware and bling, not like last year’s iPhone 4S refresh, which had to rely on the iOS 5 overhaul to really sell it as being different from the iPhone 4. Sure, it had hardware improvements, but they were all internal ones, and only geeks like us appreciate those.
Look, you might be right: maybe the iPhone 5 won’t get announced at the WWDC. But I don’t think that Apple is beholden to iOS 6 in order to release the new iPhone, especially this year.
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