Africa Telecom It news. Islamic SIM Card
3
LATEST NEWS Islamic SIM to be showcased in Africa Nov 06, 2013 africatelecomit.com ICT News Updates 0 A new SIM-based application designed to offer a range of functions to users of even lower end feature phones will be showcased at Africa Com in Cape Town next week. The Islamic SIM Service (ISS), designed by Greek electrical engineer Yiannis Hatzopoulis, enables users to track the direction of the Kaa’bah, receive accurate prayer timing, convert dates between Gregorian and Arabic calendars and automatically ban incoming calls during prayer time. The SIM will be showcased at Africa Com in Cape Town from 12 – 14 November. Hatzopoulis says the Islamic SIM Service is currently under scrutiny by mobile operators in several countries, but that it would be premature to speculate on its distribution in Africa. He says the ISS came about after he noted the success of LG’s Islamic phones in 2009, and saw a gap in the market for good Islamic services running on generic feature phones. He says: “I realised that I could pack most of the functions of an Islamic phone inside a SIM card, to turn any casual feature phone into an Islamic phone, simply through the swap of its SIM card.” He says he elected to release the functionality in a GSM SIM rather than a smartphone app, because around a billion GSM feature phones are in use in Asia and Africa, due to their low prices, long battery lives and ease of use. “Also, there are places where the networks have not been upgraded to 3G, which can support a functional smartphone with Islamic apps; and in most places prepaid connections and high churn rates exist. The SIM is cheap, so this type of product offering could be used as a utility gadget by mobile networks, to attract those users that could not really afford an Islamic phone or smartphone, but would find it convenient to introduce Islamic features in their existing GSM phones,” says Hatzopoulis. The concept prototype was submitted to SIMagine, a development and business plan contest event run by SIMAlliance (www.simalliance.org) in 2010. The project won a Best Mobile App award that year, which subsequently led to contacts with SIM manufacturers, who eventually provided resources to build the first network connected samples for market evaluation. Hatzopoulis is now working with leading manufacturer Bluefish Technologies on the project. “This SIM basically offers on plain-vanilla feature phones what you get on an Islamic phone/smartphone, minus the Quoran text. We get a dial-a-Quoran voice recital instead with the SIM.” The service is location independent and enables the user to find the direction even when roaming, with the new prayer times and direction automatically calculated and sent to the subscriber vie SMS or MMS. He notes that not only can operators generate customer loyalty through the service, they can also offer it as a subscription service or increase ARPU due to the increased SMS usage. Kenya considers 4G spectrum sharing Samsung launch Galaxy Kids tablet this Christmas in Ghana MTN Uganda launches pay-as-you-go solar power s Home About us Media Kit Sub BIG ISSUE COMPUTER.COM DISCOURSE EDITORIAL EDITOR’S DESK EXECUTIVE FORUM ICT NEWS UPDATES PERSPECTIVE MORE Africa Telecom & IT – Islamic SIM to be showcased in Africa http://www.africatelecomit.com/islamic-sim-to-be-showcased-in-africa 1 of 3 19/12/2013 10:34 μμ
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Transcript of Africa Telecom It news. Islamic SIM Card
LATEST NEWS
Islamic SIM to be showcased in Africa Nov 06, 2013 africatelecomit.com ICT News Updates 0
A new SIM-based application designed to offer a range of functions to users of even lower end feature
phones will be showcased at Africa Com in Cape
Town next week.
The Islamic SIM Service (ISS), designed by Greek
electrical engineer Yiannis Hatzopoulis, enables users
to track the direction of the Kaa’bah, receive accurate
prayer timing, convert dates between Gregorian and
Arabic calendars and automatically ban incoming calls
during prayer time.
The SIM will be showcased at Africa Com in Cape Town from 12 – 14 November.
Hatzopoulis says the Islamic SIM Service is currently under scrutiny by mobile operators in several
countries, but that it would be premature to speculate on its distribution in Africa.
He says the ISS came about after he noted the success of LG’s Islamic phones in 2009, and saw a gap in
the market for good Islamic services running on generic feature phones. He says: “I realised that I could
pack most of the functions of an Islamic phone inside a SIM card, to turn any casual feature phone into an
Islamic phone, simply through the swap of its SIM card.”
He says he elected to release the functionality in a GSM SIM rather than a smartphone app, because
around a billion GSM feature phones are in use in Asia and Africa, due to their low prices, long battery lives
and ease of use.
“Also, there are places where the networks have not been upgraded to 3G, which can support a functional
smartphone with Islamic apps; and in most places prepaid connections and high churn rates exist. The SIM
is cheap, so this type of product offering could be used as a utility gadget by mobile networks, to attract
those users that could not really afford an Islamic phone or smartphone, but would find it convenient to
introduce Islamic features in their existing GSM phones,” says Hatzopoulis.
The concept prototype was submitted to SIMagine, a development and business plan contest event run by
SIMAlliance (www.simalliance.org) in 2010. The project won a Best Mobile App award that year, which
subsequently led to contacts with SIM manufacturers, who eventually provided resources to build the first
network connected samples for market evaluation.
Hatzopoulis is now working with leading manufacturer Bluefish Technologies on the project.
“This SIM basically offers on plain-vanilla feature phones what you get on an Islamic phone/smartphone,
minus the Quoran text. We get a dial-a-Quoran voice recital instead with the SIM.”
The service is location independent and enables the user to find the direction even when roaming, with the
new prayer times and direction automatically calculated and sent to the subscriber vie SMS or MMS.
He notes that not only can operators generate customer loyalty through the service, they can also offer it as
a subscription service or increase ARPU due to the increased SMS usage.
Kenya considers 4G spectrum sharing Samsung launch Galaxy Kids tablet this Christmas in Ghana MTN Uganda launches pay-as-you-go solar power system
Home About us Media Kit Subscription
BIG ISSUE COMPUTER.COM DISCOURSE EDITORIAL EDITOR’S DESK EXECUTIVE FORUM ICT NEWS UPDATES PERSPECTIVE MORE
Africa Telecom & IT – Islamic SIM to be showcased in Africa http://www.africatelecomit.com/islamic-sim-to-be-showcased-in-africa
1 of 3 19/12/2013 10:34 μμ
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BIG ISSUE COMPUTER.COM DISCOURSE EDITORIAL EDITOR’S DESK EXECUTIVE FORUM ICT NEWS UPDATES PERSPECTIVE MORE
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