Two slots are better than one for Nokia

Nokia and pan-Scandinavian online bank Nordea have launched a dual-SIM handset for mobile transactions.

The phone will feature two separate slots for the operator's SIM card and an m-payment card issued by the bank.

Nordea's card is based on Wireless Identification Module (WIM), which allows users to identify themselves with digital signatures to confirm any banking transactions.

The project is a pilot with 100 participants who have all received a free WAP/WIM enabled phone.

Bo Harald, executive vice president at Nordea, said customers should be given an opportunity to choose where they get their banking services from.

He said: "You don't buy your groceries from a furniture store, so why should you buy your banking services from the mobile operator? And it's really not a big deal to make a handset with two chips."

He added that the dual-card system will bring in more revenue for the operator.

"The operators will get increased traffic with the dual system which in the 3G network means increased revenue," he said.

However, Juha Snellman, executive vice president at secure payment specialist SmartTrust, doubted the handset will work.

He told silicon.com: "Using a single SIM card just makes sense, it has all your details already, it doesn't need any applications because they can be built either on the phone or on the network. Besides, I don't think all the banks can support just one SIM so every bank will bring out their own card."

Juha Kokkonen, applications manager at Nokia mobile commerce, said the WIM standard allows different models. He said: "The WIM standard allows different delivery mechanisms, but at this stage it remains to be seen which will be the more dominant one, single- or dual- SIM handset."

Nokia has already been making dual chip handsets for UBS bank in Switzerland and DBS Bank Singapore.

The dual chip concept is compatible with the recently announced preferred payment architecture by the financial industry-driven forum, the Mobey Forum, which drives the development of the dual-SIM handset.