<< Here's an interesting wireless application >>
Here is another?
Below is a clipping that readers of this thread might find interesting. It was emailed to me by a friend so I do not have a link.
If you consider the fact that today over one billion "g-mails" are being sent monthly using mobile terminals with very limited MMI's, limitations on what can be transmitted (160 character text messages using SMS), limited VAS, and slow data service rates, imagine what the future will bring when these barriers are overcome by protocols like WAP, new devices and display technology, larger memory and more powerful smart cards and even only moderately faster data transmission rates.
As for the security issue you mention the shared private key methodology used in GSM seems to have endured the test of time and I am of the impression that by layering on public key cryptography (which can be combined on smart cards like SIM's using onboard cryptographic coprocessor, RSA PKCS#11 standards, SMIME compatibility, et al) all the key elements are available to enable pretty secure data transmission.
Article from The South China Morning Post that I previously posted to the Nokia thread follows:
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>> Come next month your GSM mobile phone can be transformed into a news centre, banking agent and shopping mall, using a second-generation Java-based Sim card carried by two Hong Kong mobile service providers.
Hong Kong is the first city in the world to adopt the new 32k data-storage smart card. Until now, services on the Sim card have come already decided by the network provider and users could not change anything. Now, thanks to Java, users can easily enter new data or edit existing text in the Sim card. A user-friendly, menu-driven interface will lead you to a library of applets, complete with description and file size, as well as information on what you have loaded and remaining memory space. Users can select applets for download until the memory is full, or delete what they do not need.
Transferred through short message service (SMS), data stored in the Sim can be changed and relayed instantaneously.
Said Claus Hansen, senior manager at card-maker Schlubmerger: "32k is not going to be enough in the near future. It will last for probably less than a year before 64k and 128k will quickly take over, and by 2002 we are going to have one-megabyte Sim."
He explained that these were transition products to 3G, a next generation advanced CDMA mobile phone and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).
A 3G phone is a hybrid cellular phone-cum-digital personal assistant allowing a user to shop and browse from the phone. WAP enables the wireless transmission of data from phone to computing devices such as palmtops and notebooks.
"With a Sim toolkit, we can apply some of the WAP and 3G functions before the real 3G comes a few years later," he said.
While Java Sim works with all GSM phones, only 10 cellular phones in the market support the 32k storage space and SMS. The success of the Sim toolkit is dependent on the quality and quantity of content and services. Mobile network operators have to sign up more content and service providers.
Sunday and Hutchison have different sets of partners to provide these add-on services. Sunday has already announced it is going to launch "over-the-air" service using the Sim toolkit next month. However, a Sunday spokesman said the service was still in the preparation stage. Existing add-on services such as the "mobile concierge guide" will remain in the new SMS. Sunday is still at the negotiating table with other content and service vendors. Meanwhile, Hutchison has launched its SMS with a 32k Sim card featuring mobile banking from American Express.
Both mobile network operators are charging their GSM customers more in order to enjoy these new services. New T&T and C&W HKT plan to build up their own add-on services by using the same technology before the end of the year. <<
Copyright 1999: The South China Morning Post. All Rights Reserved.
<<The South China Morning Post -- 08-03-99>>
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