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Comment by farmdve | Hacker News Reader

Wait, what? They're unknown in the U.S? Then what in the world are they using over there?

Apps that run directly on the SIM card are relatively unknown in the US. We (in Canada) normally download apps that run on the phone's OS, like Android or iOS apps. Running apps directly on the SIM card is very unlikely.

Most carriers like Wind sell phones with SIM apps to control your account, also there were a few banking apps done like this http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1063949/cibc-and-rogers-comp...

I played around with a TurboSim for a while too back when I was testing out a SIM card 'firewall' that would block the carrier programmed SIM from responding to OTA updates or type-0 stealth SMS and other bad things http://www.bladox.com/ then phones with wifi that didn't require a SIM came out.

There are also USSD menus which I hadn't heard of before going to Asia. It was used by carriers there to provide an alternative to voice menus to topup and buy addons. In India there is a company providing access to Facebook over it:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/airtel_in/airtel-launches-the...

USSD has very limited support outside Asia and US.

Many people in the US are using CDMA phones that don't even have SIM cards.

This really isn't that accurate anymore. Verizon Wireless, which is the largest carrier in the US right now, uses sim cards in all of their LTE devices. Behind them is AT&T which of course is completely GSM and T-Mobile. Sprint, well... they're there.

Sprint phones also use SIM cards too, for their newer LTE devices.

Some LTE devices have embedded SIM cards (baked inside the device so they aren't user removable, such as the Photon Q LTE).

But those are still SIM cards, all Sprint LTE devices have a SIM card of some sort.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think most people have an LTE phone.

Given that people typically get a "free" phone every two years, I'd imagine that most people in the US have LTE phones by now.

Well, most people out of the 56% that actually own a smart phone: http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/06/05/smartphone-ownership-2...

Is LTE only used for data, or is it also used for normal voice calls?

Most people have a GSM or LTE phone.

I am from Denmark and I have also never seen a application on a SIM card.

CDMA

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