A survey conducted to gauge the US consumer awareness of SIM cards and to identify trends in SIM card adoption has revealed the massive growth the card has achieved.
Three years ago, 6 percent of US mobile phone users had SIM cards in their mobile phones. Today, more than 30 million U.S. residents (20 percent) have one, and this number is rapidly growing with the adoption of SIM cards by various operators, including AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless. According to Gemplus's 2003 U.S. SIM Card Consumer Survey, SIM cards have already gained 39 percent awareness among mobile phone users in the U.S. Only 20percent of U.S. mobile phone users, however, understand that SIM cards are smart cards.
Gemplus's U.S. SIM Card Consumer Survey indicates that mobile phone users rank customer service features as the most appealing, giving priority rating to applications that send automatic notification of service problems (rated 7.8/10) and that enable self-care (6.5/10).
Mobile phone users ranked the ability to easily transfer phone numbers between handsets (5.8/10) and the use of larger phone books (5.7/10) third and fourth respectively. 78percent of mobile phone users said they would be interested in using SIM cards to easily transfer their phone books from between handsets, while 69percent said they would like to use their mobile phones during international trips. Changing ring tones and text messaging ranked fifth and sixth respectively.
