Italy's TIM has announced the Italian launch of the first SIM Card that allows mobile phones to "communicate" with TV set-top boxes, computers, household appliances and a host of home electronics devices. The new Z-SIM" SIM Card is a Telecom Italia Group world exclusive, will be rolled out next year. The SIM card incorporates radio technology that enables all TIM cellphones to "communicate" with any terminal or device equipped with a similar SIM card simply by pressing a key on the phone.
Once the two SIM cards have been "paired", the phone can be used to control household appliances (turn on the heating, change the temperature, manage sprinkler systems, turn household lights on and off, manage computer files, etc.). Commonly used set-top box smartcards equipped with the new technology will also be able to "communicate" with mobile phones, turning mobile phones into a method for purchasing TV content instead of connecting a set-top box to a telephone socket. Mobile phones can be used to interact with a TV set-top box and order pay-per-view football matches or films, or recharge a prepaid smartcard without going to a sales outlet. TIM is developing new methods of payment that enable customers to pay for content using the new SIM card.
The technology works both inside and outside the home. The new SIM cards will also work with analog cards embedded into devices used to issue film tickets, parking and road tolls.
The new SIM card protects users from intrusions and tampering to ensure transaction security. The new security application uses more effective mechanisms than existing proximity technologies such as Bluetooth, combined with the SIM card's built-in authentication and identification technologies, including a PIN number known only to the user. In consequence, Telecom Italia is able to offer its customers a secure and efficient payment solution.
TIM and the Telecom Italia R&D center in Turin have achieved a world first by building this new radio technology into mobile telephone SIM cards, and hold a patent on the technology."
Posted to the site on 12th December 2005
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/15194.php