3G SIM

Finally I decided to upgrade my GSM phase 2+ SIM to a 3G card. I've been reluctant to do so as the old SIM was actually coded by myself when I was with a SIM card vendor. It was the first STK offer in Singapore, with Info-On-Demand SIM application on it. This fact has kept me loyal to that telco and to the particular SIM card for the past 8 yrs as I'm able to load additional STK applications therefore turn it into a live test card.

Now with 3G or even 3.5G network having phrased in and offering much faster data rate & more features, I can't hold on any more but to upgrade (I now have to pay for it!) & switch to the 3G network. Moreover, SIM application has become the past story though most handsets still (quietly) support STK. The VAS platform has changed from SIM card to Java application and now to the smartphone OS e.g. Windows Mobile or Symbian. WAP did not even get a chance to really fly. The role of SIM card has been demoted to its original function, i.e. subscriber identification and storing network parameters; it is no longer the key player in VAS development, nor is SIM vendor.

Actually, many of the original SIM functions become insignificant in today's mobile experience. For example, the SIM phone book is seldom used and SMS is not even stored into SIM any more. My new 3G SIM (btw, I can recognize it as Gemalto card by its contact-pad shape :-) is said to be 128K card with the capacity to store 1000 phonebook entries. But who really cares it? The phone usually provides megabytes (if not gigabytes) of dynamic memory that effectively stores unlimited number of contact & SMS records. It also offers a more sophisticated phonebook with, for example, voice tag, customised ring tone, face image, email & address that the SIM phonebook doesn't.

The world changes fast. The eight years are long due to flash the concept about GSM VAS...