1) A Greek engineer has developed an "Islamic SIM card" that helps Muslims practice their faith through features on older mobile phones, like notifying users of prayer times and directing them to Mecca. 2) The SIM card can bring religious functions to basic phones, expanding access beyond smartphones. This may appeal to Muslims in Africa and Asia where most phones are basic models. 3) The inventor sees demand for several years as 3G networks expand in Muslim-majority countries, and hopes to attract younger Muslims by connecting features to social media like Facebook.

1. Original Deutsche Welle source in German:
http://www.dw.de/grieche-entwickelt-sim-karte-f%C3%BCr-muslime/a-17242055
Greek develops a SIM Card for Muslims
A specially designed mobile phone SIM card, will make it easier for religious Muslims , to exercise
their faith's duties in daily life. With this business idea wants a Greek Engineer to conquer the
markets in Africa and Asia. The countries with the largest Muslim population density exist in Africa
and Asia. In these continents the mobile phone market is growing extremely fast. According to
the current Development Report of the International Telecommunication Union ( ITU), more than
half of mobile phone contracts world-wide are drafted in Asia. However, the majority of mobile
handsets used in Asia and Africa, are not modern Smartphones, but older generation cheap
models (feature phones).
The "Islamic SIM" by the Greek electrical engineer Yiannis Hatzopoulos from Thessaloniki, is
designed to help Muslims practice their religious duties - whether they own a smart phone or an
older cell phone.
" With this SIM, the user can determine the prayer direction to Mecca on his phone , while receiving
ringtone notifications to alert him of the five daily prayer times; moreover, the phone for the
duration of a prayer session can be automatically switched to silent mode" , commends the Greek
engineer on the main characteristics of the new SIM . The engineer works together with the Danish
company Bluefish Technologies , a leading SIM card manufacturer, to market the service.

2. Also suitable for low-cost mobile phones
Introduction of special functions on mobile phones for religious Muslims is not a new idea - but
usually it is aimed at users of modern Smartphones. " The unique feature of Islamic SIM is that its
functions can be used on older phones, the so-called second generation or feature phones.
“This an advantage over other SIM cards or Apps , " says the Islam expert-scientist Elif Elma
of the consulting firm 'Islamic Consulting' in Mannheim. She could well imagine that this SIM card
could prevail over the Muslim world. Especially functions such as the phone's automatic silent-mode
switching during prayer time : " This feature will very probably be strongly supported by the
Imams , as they often complain of ringing phones inside Mosques, "said Elif Elma.
“It will probably take several years till the smartphones completely overtake the market space – as
the required 3G network expansion in all countries with a Muslim majority population will have to
be implemented” , says Yannis Hatzopoulos . “Until then, there will be demand for older phone
models.”
His idea of an Islamic SIM card was conceived in 2009 , when he visited the Mobile
World Congress in Barcelona , as the Greek engineer recalls. At that time , LG marketed a mobile
phone with special features for Muslims. Yiannis Hatzopoulos was fascinated by the concept - and
eventually realized that these functions could be offered on a SIM card. Thus, devout Muslims
would have the opportunity to transform any mobile phone into an islamic phone, through the
simple swap of a SIM.

3. Suggestions for additional features
Mujtaba Ahmed, who works in Dubai as a Telecom Sales Engineer, red for the first time of the
"Islamic SIM "on the Internet .
The product has convinced him : "There are, here and there, SIM cards with helpful features for
Muslims , but in India or Dubai , there is nothing comparable to the Islamic SIM , "he declared in a
conversation with Deutsche Welle. A native of India, he is a practicing Muslim, and has some
proposals to make on the extension of existing functionality:
"During the Ramadan , the mobile phone could notify the user on the fastening start and
break times".
As a next project, Yiannis Hatzopoulos plans a connection of the most important Islamic - SIM
functions to the social network Facebook, " to help attact the younger Muslims “.
• Datum 25.11.2013
• Autorin/Autor Stephanos Georgakopoulos
• Redaktion Alexandra Scherle
• Teilen Versenden Facebook Twitter google+ mehr ...
Permalink http://dw.de/p/1ALRf