A research company is forecasting that the SIM card market will reach close to 3.8 billion worldwide as more consumers purchase ‘connected’ products such as tablets, netbooks, and e-book readers.
According to ABI Research, SIM card demand will continue to grow in the next couple of years as ‘new markets and applications come online.’

The company has also found that SIM-based services are not only growing within the smartphone sector but also in many developing markets.

Principal analyst John Devlin said, “SIM cards offer operators a direct presence with the end-user; it makes sense that service providers will take advantage of the increased level of functionality, performance and security. With handset manufacturers and companies such as Google offering their own portals and services directly to end-users, operators need to be able to compete.”

Devlin has also noted that volume growth is not just coming from mobile phone sales but also from other devices that are being connected to the network.

“The ramping up of M2M deployments has started. Automotive and smart metering lead the way, with future potential in areas such as tele-health. Additionally, the variety of devices integrating mobile connectivity is growing. E-readers, tablets, netbooks, laptops, PNDs, and gaming devices are all becoming increasingly connected and will offer enhanced functionality as 4G networks deliver greater bandwidth and multimedia streaming capabilities,” said Devlin.