Could location drive the future of the humble SIM card?
Andrew Grill, a UK telecoms senior executive, discusses the future of the Subscriber Identity Module, better known as the SIM card.
“As a tool that securely manages a subscriber’s identity, the SIM is the only remaining element of the mobile an operator actually owns. The way in which an operator chooses to use the SIM could offer huge potential to drive revenues from the next generation of mobile applications. For a service like social networking, by adding the element of a person’s location, the SIM is offering a new opportunity to provide actual relevance to a user’s browsing.” […]
“To enhance the way a person uses social networking on their mobile, location technology delivered on the SIM could play a pivotal role. By introducing the long held desire of real-time subscriber location, operators could energise social networking sites and provide users with an enhanced contextualised service that most PCs could not offer. On a handset, this could include status updates about a person’s location or presence, give an alert if friends were in close proximity to each other or alternatively provide location specific information when signing in to the account.”
[…] Putting people first – Could location drive the future of the humble SIM card? To enhance the way a person uses social networking on their mobile, location technology delivered on the SIM could play a pivotal role. Operators could provide users with an enhanced contextualised service […]