We have just been sent the latest press release about SIMalliance, this should be quite interesting to some of you considering its successful completion of SIMposium 2008.

Please read the full press release below.

SIMalliance, the global association made up of the world’s leading SIM card manufacturers, announces the third edition of its global conference SIMposium in Vienna (Austria) at the Hofburg on 21st and 22nd April 2009 following the successful completion of SIMposium 2008.

SIMalliance is taking registrations for its first regional stop: SIMposium Asia, taking place in Hong Kong on 8th and 9th October 2008. www.simposium-simalliance.com/asia

SIMposium 2008 which took place in Berlin in April 2008 had 340 international attendees from the mobile eco-system and beyond, to discuss emerging business opportunities and the latest trends in the convergence of mobile services.

Three of the top five handset providers attended the conference alongside two major open source handset providers. Maintaining the momentum from SIMposium 2007, Operator companies accounted for one third of participants representing 1.1 billion subscribers worldwide. Another third of the representatives were made up of SIM and technology enablers and 20% of the attendees were service, content and application providers and mobile marketing agencies.

“SIMposium 2008 exceeded our expectations following the success of 2007’s inaugural SIMposium,” said Hervé Pierre, SIMposium Project Director. “The increased number of attendees at the 2008 conference reinforces the event’s position as the only one entirely dedicated to and organised for our industry. Our animated and interesting debates on some of the hottest topics facing the whole ecosystem, shows we are still addressing pertinent topics. Our next challenge is to involve an even larger ecosystem with an increased representation from handset manufacturers, banks and transportation companies.”

Many untapped opportunities for the SIM!
The 10 keynotes, 4 panels and 50 presentations were well attended. Divided in 5 different tracks (Mobile Convergence, M2M, Mobile Transactions, Marketing to the Consumer, Mobile Multimedia) the role of the SIM card was covered:

– not only – in its traditional role – the management of security and identity – which has never been so important in a soon all-IP world

– but also as a distribution channel & platform where Operators and their Eco-System Partners are able to provide more sophisticated & customised services requiring fast interaction with the outside world.

An International Event
With 26 sponsors & exhibitors and 340 participants from 37 countries around the world, SIMposium 2008 cemented its international scope. Despite a strong representation from the European countries, there was an increased number of attendees from Asia Pacific countries, something which underpins reports that the double digit growth in SIM card shipping is partly due to a drive in shipping to countries, such as India and China, in emerging markets.

“We concentrated our marketing efforts on Europe, despite the scope of SIMposium 2008 being international, so we were more than happy to welcome the 20% of participants from outside of Europe,” continued Hervé Pierre. “It was a natural step to expand our events out to the regions, starting in Hong Kong, following the market conditions in Asia and the success of the inaugural SIMposium 2007 in Berlin.”

Global SIM Card Shipments
As in 2007, SIMalliance chose the SIMposium 2008 event to publish global SIM card shipments *: This year saw an increase of 28% from the 1.9 billion SIM cards being shipped in 2006 to 2.7 billion shipped in 2007. The sustained growth, since 2005 is being driven by new opportunities from emerging markets and demand for a new generation of high-speed multimedia handsets.

*SIMalliance Market Figures are produced through a blind and robust process based on real deliveries. These figures are accurate thanks to SIMalliance’s global footprint (> 90%).
More information: www.simposium-simalliance.com

About SIMalliance: Putting the SIM at the heart of the new mobile eco-system
Over the past five years SIMalliance has become one of the world’s foremost commentators in the mobile business. By operating outside the singular commercial interests of any individual SIM card player, the association has been able to pinpoint the mission critical services on the horizon and help steer their development to meet the practical needs of the mobile market.

With SIMalliance members* now responsible for nine in every ten SIM cards sold worldwide, the collective vision of the association is uniquely placed to shape SIM developments and the impact they will have on the new generation of mobile services. From their standpoint, the challenge couldn’t be clearer for the protagonists in the mobile eco-system.

* SIMalliance members are:
Eastcompeace, Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Incard, Watchdata Oberthur Card Systems, Prism (A Net1 Company), Sagem Orga & SanDisk.

Catherine Rossignol Jaymond
SIMalliance — Marketing Director
M +33(0)630 578 906
catherine.rossignol-jaymond@simalliance.org