NTT DoCoMo might sell SIM cards for Apple’s iPad

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: NTT DoCoMo might become the first major domestic telecommunications company to sell SIM cards that aren’t bundled with handsets if it works upon its idea of selling SIM cards for Apple Inc.’s new iPad tablet computer.

With this development, Japan will eventually come in line with other countries, where such cards can be switched freely between different carriers’ cell phones. In Japan, cell phones are SIM-locked which means their SIM cards cannot be used in handsets sold by different carriers.

DoCoMo’s SIM card can be used in all of the company’s various handsets but will not function in cell phones sold by SoftBank or KDDI. An iPad SIM card will be half the size of a typical SIM card and will not be compatible with each other.

Meanwhile, Nexus one is planned to be launched by Google in Japan whose users would freely switch carriers by inserting different SIM cards. It is for the same reason why Docomo is also considering selling SIM cards that can be used in different cell phones.