Almost two years ago — much to the the dismay of many accessory manufacturers — the micro-USB charging ports became standard amongst cellular devices, thus forcing many companies to stop production of the mini-USB (or any non-micro-USB plugs being made) charging plug; both devices and miscellaneous charging accessories included. Let’s just say this news was not the most welcomed because — despite being helpful for already confused consumers — it caused a lot of lost dollars in overstock and unsold merchandise. Everyone complied with this new rule — except, of course, Apple — who chose to continue going their own way, with a proprietary charging solution simply called “Apple Dock Connector”. No one fought it, Jobs got his way — surprised?

Fast forward to early spring 2010, and the introduction of the iPad; another flashy new gadget for us to gawk at. But, things weren’t as peachy as one would think. Apple decided to change things up again; introducing the “micro-SIM”, an even smaller version of the SIM card we had all grown to know and love. Did they bring forth explanation? No. Did we all comply? Of course. Thus paving the way for the summer launch of the iPhone 4, a device bearing the same dire need for a micro-SIM. Consumers again accepted it, allowing inventors the opportunity to cash-in with workarounds like: “micro-SIM adapters” and “SIM cutters”, which are inventions made for those of us who are too OCD to stick to one device for longer than a month (or less). One could simply pop their micro-SIM into an adapter — making it standard sized as seen above — and usable in basically ANY phone other than an iPhone. Again, faith in humanity restored.

Well, guess what, Apple isn’t content anymore, as they want to go even smaller than the micro-SIM now. The new design would reportedly allow Apple and other companies adopting the card to design smaller and thinner devices. Reuters reports that Apple has submitted a proposal for a standardized SIM card design smaller than the micro-SIM currently used in the iPhone 4, iPad, and iPad 2. Even further reports show that they have already received backing from French carrier Orange who had this to say:

“We were quite happy to see last week that Apple has submitted a new requirement to (European telecoms standards body) ETSI for a smaller SIM form factor — smaller than the one that goes in iPhone 4 and iPad,” said Anne Bouverot, Orange’s head of mobile services. She continued, ”They have done that through the standardisation route, through ETSI, with the sponsorship of some major mobile operators, Orange being one of them.”

If all goes as planned for Apple, we could start seeing even smaller sim cards (Nano-SIMs?) hit the market as early as next year.

[via Mac Rumors]