Sophisticated GSM-based car communications systems have always required a second SIM card to operate but now Nokia have developed a system that will communicate with your Bluetooth mobile phone and use the subscriber details of your mobile to make calls and to log onto services such as Nokia Smart Traffic products.
It’s all about making the services more convenient to access for users – you can leave your mobile phone in you briefcase or bag, yet the in-car systems will soon be able to use Bluetooth SIM Access Profile (SAP) not only to get onto the network but read and write data (such as your address book and schedule) to the phone. It will also lead the way to more convenient (and legal) hands-free calls from cars. Presumably, a home version of this system will be on its way – the system is not too far off the very product used in vending machines in Finland.
The in-car system will be presented at the 8th annual Nokia Mobile Internet Conference, 29 – 30 October 2003, in Nice.