AT&T Making Micro-SIM From a Big SIM
It's a 2-in-1 SIM card!
When Apple announced the iPad, the company surprised people by revealing that the device would take a special type of SIM card called a micro-SIM. Though the iPad has been on sale for a while, the whole micro-SIM thing hasn't really been talked about too much because the 3G version of the device had yet to arrive prior to today.
However, while it hasn't been a big topic of conversation, there were a few details about micro-SIMs uncovered in the days after the iPad announcement. Engadget's Chris Ziegler said back in February that if you wanted to, you could probably just cut a regular SIM card down to size. In other words, if you were really desperate to get an iPad running on a network that wasn't offering the smaller SIM cards and were willing to put in some effort, you could make your own micro-SIM.
Today Boy Genius Report confirms Ziegler's theory with pictures of AT&T's new micro-SIM cards. The carrier just got these in in time for the launch of the iPad 3G and as you can see, they can actually be used as a regular SIM card too.
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I guess it saves plastic that they don't have to make two separate SIM cards...
Is that Soundwave in the background? Awesome!
sinsear: three SIM cards, actually. Credit-card sized is standard SIM, the most prevalent one is Mini-SIM, and the smallest - Micro-SIM.
Soundwave!! back when Transformers was cool,you know before Michael Bay.
The logic to requiring the use of a micro-sim on something as large as the iPad eludes me.
Probably another attempt by Apple to control and lock down its products.
You can't just cut it down unless you know the sim doesn't have memory in those spots you are cutting off...
Soundwave!! back when Transformers was cool,you know before Michael Bay.
I hate to go off topic, but someone actually gave you -1 for your comment. Yes, Transformers were cool before Michael Bay...Bay will serve as Joel Schumacher's lap dog during the Apocalypse. There is nothing good about who Bay is or what Bay does...
They've had this mod for blackberries and other phones for a while, where u cut the sim down to the size of a micro-sim and set it in this plastic holder that holds 2 sims, so u can use 2 sims at once for ur phone.
UUGGHHH!! I just blew my sim load all over the place..
Useless commercials, micro-sim cards, and so on... When will ATT wake up and actually invest their money in something useful, like, I dunno, maybe... BETTER NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE?
The logic to requiring the use of a micro-sim on something as large as the iPad eludes me. Probably another attempt by Apple to control and lock down its products.
Typical ignorant assumptions.
Micro-SIM is the new form factor that we should start seeing on small phones. Apple is just the first to mass use it.
Typical ignorant assumptions.Micro-SIM is the new form factor that we should start seeing on small phones. Apple is just the first to mass use it.
Maybe, but, be honest now, would you be surprised if it turned out they did require a proprietary SIM card?
because phones have been getting smaller since the advent of smart phones.....
Micro-SIM is what all phones will use very soon. As usual, Apple is an early adopter of new technologies, and as usual, people are afraid of change, and instead spread FUD when they see something they don't understand. Micro SIM is not proprietary. It does not "lock down" the device. It's a completely standard SIM card. Just smaller.
And @minimizeme, it has nothing to do with the phones getting smaller. It has to do with the manufacturers packing more features and more components inside the phone. Making one thing (the SIM holder) smaller gives them more room to put other stuff that wasn't available (in a cell phone) just a few years ago, like GPS, touchscreens, etc.
UUGGHHH!! I just blew my sim load all over the place..
HAHAHA!!! I'm SO FUNNY!!
Micro-SIM is what all phones will use very soon. As usual, Apple is an early adopter of new technologies, and as usual, people are afraid of change, and instead spread FUD when they see something they don't understand. Micro SIM is not proprietary. It does not "lock down" the device. It's a completely standard SIM card. Just smaller.
You give Apple too little credit. They have millions of iPhone users who would probably love to slip their iPhone SIM card into their iPad. Thanks to Apple releasing the iPad with a different SIM card slot, people who own both will still have to buy a separate plan from AT&T (or cut their SIM card and risk damaging it).
If the next iPhone doesn't come with a Micro-SIM card slot (where it would make even more sense to use new tech and to save space), I'll be proven correct.