SIM Apps: A single application that will run on all 2+billion phones??

2006-12-09T13:18:17+02:00

Here’s the problem: I live in a country (Kenya) where millions of people have extremely low-end phones (most phones don’t even have WAP browser, not to mention Java-support). I need another way to develop applications for these millions (1+ billion globally) phones besides building standard SMS-based applications that depend on the user remembering the relevant phone number and keywords to text...

After talking with Ken Banks and others at the W3C Symposium on the Mobile Web for the Developing World in Bangalore, we stumbled upon another option which I know very little about: SIM-based applications.

Now back in Kenya, I’m finally noticing that Safaricom has loaded up each of their SIM cards with applications that provide the user with real-time information about traffic conditions in Nairobi, news, sports information, etc. And the kicker is that my six-year old Nokia 3310 seems to run these SIM apps just as well as my E61.

So my questions to the readers out there:

1. How do these SIM applications work?

When I send a request for traffic information, does that simply send a SMS to the service provider with the relevant keywords? Or is it a service request – like dialing *144# to check your balance? Or can it be either?

2. How do we develop our own SIM applications?

There seem to be a couple of SIM application toolkits out there. Which one should we use to develop our applications? What are the differences? Tips/pointers/advice would be very welcome...

3. What methods can we use to deploy these applications across Kenya?

Service providers seem to pre-load their sim cards with these applications. However, if I had the green light from Kenya’s two service providers, it seems like I should be able to instantly have my SIM application on every phone in Kenya using the over-the-air (OTA) system already in place. This looks like an extremely powerful way to roll-out an application. Has anyone had any experience with OTA installations of new sim apps?

Unfortunately, the most likely case is that I won’t be able to get any cooperation from the service providers to install my application on their sims. In this scenario, what other ways can I get a SIM application deployed in Kenya? Can I implement my own OTA service with my own SMS gateway?

I know phones can read and write data to the SIM card – is it possible to get a mobile phone application that will install a new service directly on the SIM card? That way it could be possible to get the tens of thousands of local entrepreneurs who sell scratch cards to also offer a service involving putting a customer’s sim card into their own phone and writing the desired application directly to the card.

Would love to get some feedback from the developer community about the validity of this rather low-tech concept... Thanks!

Nathan Eagle's Forum Nokia Blog

SIM Apps: A single application that will run on all 2+billion phones??