Wireless infrastructure provider and mobile network equipment maker Ericsson and Gemalto have partnered to create SIM-less mobile smartphones aimed at machines rather than people, and the technology will most be likely well-received by iPhone and iPad maker Apple.
The newly proposed partnership will create a provisioning system to allow elements such as cars, medical devices and electricity meters (among other things) to be fitted with an embedded mobile phone, without knowing the network on which it's going to operate, or even in which country it will be used. All new European cars will need a mobile network within two years, to conform with eCall legislation.
M2M (machine-to-machine) works very well in the Cloud, and Gemalto will kick in the secure provisioning system which will make the removable SIM redundant.
To be sure, European mobile phones are required to conform to the GSM standard, which mandates a removable SIM card so that subscribers can easily switch networks. However, Apple has been successfully leading a project to extend the standard to encompass embedded SIMs.
Technically, the eUICC (embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card) does perform the functions of a SIM, but through a chip soldered on the handset's motherboard rather than a detachable, removable unit.
Such SIMs could dramatically change how network operators work, and could allow Apple to sell connectivity in the iTunes store and car buyers to select a mobile network on the first turn of the key, something that could take away billions of dollars in annual revenue from the wireless carriers and mobile service providers.
Of course, doing that in a secure way is difficult, and replicating the long-term success of the removable SIM will be very tough in deed. But time will tell.
Each GSM SIM stores a different secret key, which is replicated in the Authentication Server at the network operator. The key is never transmitted and can't be extracted from the SIM without an enormous amount of effort, and physical access.
That shared secret is used to create matching "session" keys with which GSM communication is secured, and those session keys have been broken from time to time, but the shared-secret authentication made possible by the SIM still remains secure, at least for now anyway.
Shared secret is always the best cryptography, assuming the secret can't be intercepted. Dual-key systems (such as RSA or ECC) only exist because of the difficulties in distributing a shared-secret, and such systems are only used in order to safely create a shared secret.
The removable SIM solves this issue by sending the secret in a secure package (the SIM) over a separate communications medium (the post), removing the need for more complicated solutions.
So an operator-independent SIM will have two options-- one, store a shared secret for each network operator, and two, select which one based on user choice, or store a shared secret from a third party such as Gemalto, or Apple, then use that secret to encrypt the selected operator's secret on request.
The latter solution is more efficient as it offers more flexibility and wider application, but it requires the network operators to share some secrets with that third party, and that is an enormous favor to ask for most of them. It's difficult to imagine the operators agreeing to share secrets with anyone, but Gemalto is already providing the SIMs to many of them (and thus responsible for programming the secrets into those SIMs anyway) so if they'd trust anyone then it would be Gemalto...
In other mobile news
Just a couple of days after its initial release, one of the most high-profile iOS jailbreaks in the history of Apple turns out to be the fastest to be adopted as well.
Evasion, which gives iPhone, iPod, and iPad owners deeper access to its software on their devices that Apple allows, has been downloaded and used by almost 7 million people since its release on Monday, Forbes reports.
To put that number into perspective, in January Apple said that it had sold more than 500 million iOS devices cumulatively, and that about 300 million of those were running iOS 6, its latest major release before iOS 6.1 on Monday.
The seven million tally comes from the maker of Cydia, the mobile application that quickly became the unofficial third-party software repository for jailbroken devices.
Like Apple's own App Store, the app, which is typically installed in the process of jailbreaking, lets people search and discover new software.
It also allows users to search other system tweaks that can be installed on top of Apple's own software.
But unlike Apple's system, Cydia does not need to adhere to a strict set of guidelines for what can be offered. Evasion's arrival earlier this week was noteworthy for being able to jailbreak the most recent version of Apple's iOS 6 software.
And that's something that had already been accomplished, but came with numerous caveats. Evasion also worked with newer iOS devices, including the iPhone 5, which up until then proved to be a tough little fellow to break.
Apple is, of course, expected to eventually fix some of the exploits Evasion is using to jailbreak the company's devices. But an initial beta version of its updated iOS 6.1.1 software, which was released after the jailbreaking tool, reportedly does not contain such a remedy.
In the meantime, Apple has put up an updated warning, recommending that users not jailbreak their device at the risk of lowering the device's battery life and causing both app and system instabilities.
In other mobile news
Although fourth-quarter wireless service revenue was up 12 percent to a record $7 billion, Sprint still managed to deliver a quarterly loss of $1.3 billion in its latest earnings report. Sprint said the loss was primarily attributed to network improvements related to its 'Network Vision' initiative, including the shutdown of its Nextel subsidiary.
The wireless carrier also noted a loss of $45 million from Hurricane Sandy. During an earnings call Thursday morning, Steve Elfman, president of network operations and wholesale described the shutdown of the Nextel platform as a monkey off the carrier's back, saying it was an "important turning point" that would enable the company to remove incremental expense and operating costs of running two separate networks.
Sprint plans to refarm the 800 MHz wireless spectrum from its network to CDMA voice and LTE, which the company hopes will enhance in-building coverage, without having to resort to femtocells.
Sprint's net postpaid additions were up 18 percent annually, the highest since 2007. Annual smartphone sales were 20 million, and the company said it sold 6.6 million iPhones during the year, 40 percent of which were new subscribers.
For the quarter, iPhone sales hit a best-ever 2.2 million, 38 percent of which were new customers. For some perspective, those 2.2 million iPhone sold during the quarter compare to Verizon's 6.2 million and AT&T's 8.6 million.
Still Sprint's sale of iOS smartphones were up from 1.5 million in the previous quarter. The wireless carrier announced its fourth quarter 2012 earnings, as it aggressively pursues its LTE rollout in an attempt to remain competitive with competitors AT&T and Verizon Wireless, both of which are well-along on their 4G rollouts.
As part of its Network Vision initiative, Sprint said on air sites have nearly doubled in the last 90 days, with LTE live in 58 cities total and nearly 170 more expected in the coming months.
Sprint said construction has started in more than 450 cities, with more than 19,500 sites now ready for construction.
Investors looking for more information on the impending $20.1 billion acquisition of Sprint by Japanese carrier Softbank were left hanging. Sprint also refrained from diving too deep into the details of Sprint's latest bid to acquire the remaining share of Clearwire that it doesn't already own for $2.97 per share.
Sprint did say that it expects the process to be completed in the second quarter, however. It will be interesting to see what the immediate future holds for the company, now that it dropped Nextel's outdated network.
In other mobile news
Cablevision Systems, the 5th largest cable company in the United States, is near an agreement to sell regional cable provider Optimum West to Charter Communications. The deal could be announced as early as later today, said one of the persons in the know.
The agreement hasn’t been signed yet, and talks could still fall apart, said the same person. If successful, Charter will win out over peers such as Time Warner Cable and Suddenlink Communications, which also made offers for the business, people close to the situation said in December.
Charter CEO Tom Rutledge is also familiar with the Optimum West unit-- he actually pushed Cablevision to acquire the business in 2010 when he was Cablevision’s chief operating officer.
“Overall, Charter is an educated acquirer, simply because the CEO purchased the property for Cablevision, but in the near term, this is more positive for Cablevision,” said Frank Louthan, an analyst at Raymond James & Co. “This is a transaction where there aren’t a lot of synergies because Charter is acquiring what became a well-run property.”
With Optimum West in its back pocket, Charter would gain about 300,000 new customers in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. Cablevision acquired the unit, previously known as Bresnan Broadband Holdings, more than two years ago from Providence Equity Partners for $1.37 billion.
Selling the company now allows Cablevision to better concentrate on the New York area, where most of its customers reside. Cablevision serves about 3 million subscribers in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and parts of Pennsylvania.
The Bethpage, New York-based company began exploring a sale of the Bresnan business after several acquisitions of cable systems were announced last year at favorable prices, compared to the value of publicly traded cable companies’ shares.
While Cablevision is trying to narrow its focus, Charter already has video, Internet and phone networks in 25 states. Rutledge took over as Charter’s CEO last year, replacing Mike Lovett.
He says that Optimum West’s assets are great and “in nice shape as a result of the things we did to them.”
Comcast Corp. is the nation’s largest cable carrier, followed by Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications Inc. Charlie Schueler, a Cablevision spokesman, declined to comment. Anita Lamont, a spokeswoman for Charter, didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.
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