HTC and Nokia is following the same path to adopt the micro SIM for their flagship products after Apple’s adoption of micro SIM for the iPhone. Both Motorola and RIM are also designing a nano SIM for their Smartphone’s. A new nano-SIM design has been submitted by Apple to ETSI which is currently being reviewed. The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is the international body, which makes worldwide SIM standardization possible.  An association formed by Nokia, Motorola and RIM decided to submit a separate nano-SIM design proposal that offers  couple of improvements with good parts from Apple's proposed SIM's designs. The first proposal submitted by Motorola and RIM had more of a push mechanism involving design - push to lock and push to pop it out. But Apple's nano-SIM brings in minor improvement and continues to involve tray-based input mechanism for the handset. It carries a simple rectangular design. The design created by Motorola and RIM is very basic. There is a notch added to one of the sides which is basically used to lock the SIM to the device. It has been reported that Apple was against the notch because it might add to the gestation period of getting the nano-SIM to the market. There will be more focus on security feature in Next generation nano-SIMs. In coming months the world is certainly anxious to see a better, secure and more easy to load nano-SIM. Till now there is no official timeline when the new nano-SIM will be pushed to markets.

Source : Themobileindian 

According to the Gartner, Mobile phone manufacturers could cut handset prices this year to increase their sales. Last quarter there was decline in the handsets sales which is bad news for handset vendors but can be good news for consumers as vendors start to lower prices to clear unsold inventory.  There was a sale of 419.1 million units in the first quarter of 2012, 2 per cent decline from the first quarter of 2011. There was decline due to slowdown in demand from the Asia/Pacific region. For Asia, first quarter is the strongest one which is driven by Chinese New Year but they saw lack of new product launched from leading manufacturers, and users delayed upgrades in the hope of better Smartphone deals arriving later in the year.
Now vendors are left with unsold inventory, which they will clear by lowering prices during the next couple of quarters. However, the volatile situation of the Rupee against the Dollar could mean that some of the benefits of lowering this price might not reach Indian consumers. In the last quarter prices in India rose due to weakening of the Rupee against the Dollar in the range of 3 to 3.5 per cent. According to the analysts Rupee won't fall below this level and that therefore the price benefit might reach Indian.

Source : Themobileindian