Motorola's iSIM could power company-specific mobile apps

15.04.2010
Motorola's new Intelligent SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) just got its start in Europe by powering a parental control application for GSM phones, but it will also be available to enterprises that need to customize mobile phones for a sales force or other application across an entire group of workers.

The iSIM is a thin, 0.4 mm, flexible wafer containing two chips that attaches to a mobile phone's original SIM card to provide additional services and applications to the phone.

Motorola's first customer for the iSIM, Bipper Communication of Norway, was announced April 7, but Motorola expects the iSIM to be used by a a variety of wireless GSM carriers and application providers globally late this year.

A third chip can be added to the iSIM to provide to enable a GSM device to be used for mobile banking and purchases, said Venkat Eswara, director of marketing for applications at Motorola.

The potential for adding-in NFC to a phone could be important to financial services and other companies seeking to turn mobile phones into mobile payment tools, said Stephen Drake and Will Stofega, analysts at research firm IDC.

Even for applications, Drake said iSIM offers "the potential for even more IT control of a phone. There's a lot of talk of how to get more data onto a device and this could be a way."