The new iPad from Apple uses a SIM card enabling users to purchase 3G data, but one would have thought Apple would have take the route of enabling an Apple customer to utilise their iPhone SIM in the iPad; no so according to an article over on wired.

According to the article the iPad uses a different size SIM which is about half the size of a standard SIM and hence the iPhone SIM so means your iPhone SIM and any other standard SIM for that matter, is incompatible with the iPad.

Apparently the only other device that uses this smaller SIM in the US is found in a kids GPS watch. So if you are an iPhone owner and purchase the iPad you are being forced to fort out for a secondary data plan.

So why put the smaller SIM in the iPad rather than a standard SIM so you can switch in your iPhone SIM for data? Probably because Apple wants you to remain with AT&T and of course they will also get their slice of the cash cow, but no doubt some hacker will eventually come up with a way of switching that smaller SIM to the iPhone SIM, so you don’t have to fork out twice.