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Wednesday, December 26, 2012, 10:44 am
Apple wins key patent for SIM connector designs in mobile products
Apple this week was granted a patent for the design of SIM card connectors found in most mobile devices, a critical step for the company not only in terms of its future mobile hardware initiative but also its capacity to fend off ongoing opposition from rivals over the evolution of the technology.
In particular, Apple and Nokia have been feuding over the future of SIM card connector designs ever since the European Telecommunications Standards Institute agreed to set clear polices governing how its member companies license their patents related to the technology.
A driving force behind the initiative, Apple back in February pledged royalty-free licensing of its own, now official nano-SIM design, if the ETSI ruled in its favor, which the organization ultimately did just a few months later.
Apple's latest design win over at the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Christmas Day covers various methods of inserting and ejecting a SIM card into devices in such a manner that it protects the card and device from damage should the user insert it improperly.
Apple's existing "plunger system," or SIM ejection tool, is specifically cited in the filing, but iPhones and iPads aren't the only products for which the filing covers -- it can also apply to media centers, MacBooks, or larger screen displays, Apple says.
The iPhone maker's victory on the heels of ETSI earlier ruling may compel Nokia and other rivals to relent in their ongoing opposition to Apple's leadership in the field and potentially withdraw dozens of their rival SIM card-related patent filings that remain pending.
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Previous Comments View All
I predict at least one model of MacBook has LTE this year
I predict at least one model of MacBook has LTE this year
They tried that. They decided against it. It's going backward; laptops are being killed off.
I predict at least one model of MacBook has LTE this year
Now with most American carriers implementing shared data plans, and the size of nano SIM, I agree that it is likely that Apple will include.
The biggest hurdle to adoption in Apple's laptop lineup is Moto and Samsung wireless FRAND SEPs demands.
In the current situation, Moto wants $24 and Samsung $22.50 per $1000 MacBook Air sold, for patents in a radio chip that costs $8 to make and sell to Apple. That would equate to over $100 of each $2200 MBP Retina sold.
All these FRAND SEP lawsuits need to be settled before Apple will include LTE in their laptop lineup.
Apple gets a patent for sticking a pin in a hole to eject the SIM? Haven't CD-ROM drives been doing this since 1986? Same for trays.
Apple gets a patent for sticking a pin in a hole to eject the SIM? Haven't CD-ROM drives been doing this since 1986? Same for trays.
If you bothered to read the patent you would have your answer
Apple gets a patent for sticking a pin in a hole to eject the SIM?
No sir. PatentlyApple has a clearer explanation here:
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2012/12/apple-wins-strategically-important-micro-sim-patent.html
Can we please wait a few years and see what the maroons in DC finally decide, before posting any more of such 'this-and-that patent was granted' news?
I am increasingly leaning towards the Repubs on this one: it's time to junk the USPTO.
I remember Apple's current sim ejection system.
It was the '80s and I was ejecting 3.5" floppys, except instead of having to jam a pin in there, there was a mechanical button already attached to the device. Because needing to jam a separate pin (even if it's called an "eject tool") into a consumer device just seems stupid.
It was the '80s and I was ejecting 3.5" floppys, except instead of having to jam a pin in there, there was a mechanical button already attached to the device.
The permanence of SIM cards makes that a bad decision. Great for SD cards, though.
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I dunno if this is "key". Does anyone else even use SIM trays as opposed to "pop the cover off, take the battery out, open that stupid little metal door, and put a SIM in"?