The ability to use your phone for NFC mobile payments across borders just became a reality. Gemalto announced that it has developed the first UICC-embedded software application that is approved by Mastercard’s mobile payment specification for NFC. Gemalto’s software provides a number of features, including the Trusted Service Management interface for PayPass payments, and the ability to manage and view your mobile transaction history. Your SIM, and ultimately your phone, can be linked to debit, cr...

According to an unconfirmed report in The Telegraph Sunday morning, Apple has abandoned its plans to develop an integrated SIM card for the iPhone. The report, which cites a senior source at a mobile operator, suggests that Apple backed down from its plans in light of pressures from European carriers. Apple was rumored to be developing an integrated SIM card that would be commissionable by multiple operators. This would allow Apple to exclude carriers from the sale process. It would also allow customers to ea...

One of our solid Apple sources has just let us know some pretty interesting (and exciting) information surrounding Apple’s upcoming iPhone devices. For starters, we have been told that iPhone model 3,2 — what everyone is assuming to be the Verizon (or at least CDMA-compatible) phone — just hit the “AP” testing stage. This is the very last stage before retail release; final hardware, almost final software. Here is the odd thing, though… the iPhone 3,2 unit, we have been excl...

If you’ve never seen a micro-SIM before, you’ll probably be pretty shocked to learn that it’s simply just a smaller SIM card… just like the name implies. What’s interesting, however, is that the SIM isn’t actually different as the chip is exactly the same, the only difference is that the plastic surrounding it is minimized. In any case, just in time for the Apple iPad 3G launch and upcoming next generation iPhone launch, AT&T stores have started receiving new SIM cards...

We don’t think we need to go over what an insanely huge day today is for Canada, but in case anyone is feeling particularly thick, we’re going to spell it out plan and simple — Rogers is no longer the only HSPA game in Canada. Bell’s 21Mbps HSPA network has at long last gone live. As with any network launch, a few awesome handsets, data cards and a few Canadian-style rip-off plans have come along for the ride. So hit the jump and check out what’s new. (more…)

UK-based mobile service provider Geodesa Limited just made a pretty exciting announcement and we can only hope this is the start of a continuing trend. For those unfamiliar with Geodesa, the company’s core product is the GeoSIM — a SIM card with attached service that does away with insane international roaming charges across a pretty massive expanse. It’s newly announced upcoming product, the GeoSIM Dual IMSI SIM card, will take things one step further and provide two local phone numbers ...

What has up until now been the exclusive playground of Seattle and Dallas-based T-Mobile customers will soon be sweeping across the entire nation. T-Mobile has announced that their @Home VOIP phone service will be available wherever T-Mobile service is found, beginning Wednesday, July 2nd. For those that need a refresher course, @Home is a supplemental service that allows existing T-Mobile customers to add a home phone line to their account for $10/month. The service requires a proprietary Linksys Wi-Fi route...