Soft SIM is the Future of Mobile IoT
Five years ago, I announced my very first consumer product — a 3G standalone smartwatch a.k.a the Omate TrueSmart — to give good “feng shui” to my new venture; I decided to launch it on my mother’s birthday on August 21st.
It worked pretty well and since then, Omate always announced its new key products on that day :)
Soft SIM for Wearable-as-a-Service
So today, we are opening the preorders of the Omate x nanoblock™ limited edition smartwatch for children with embedded secure global data connectivity by Tata Communications MOVE™.
The Omate x nanoblock™ smartwatch protects kids through a secure platform integrating a 6 month free trial period services working all across the US and EU through a SIM data plan and comes with customizable wristband from Japanese toy maker nanoblock™.
Key Features:
Starting from $149 including 6 months free service trial period:
1 hour video call / month: Two-way video call services
1 hour voice chat messaging / month: Two-way voice chat services
Unlimited GPS device tracking: LBS to locate the watch via an app
SOS alert from the watch
Pedometer
Alarm
Front selfie camera
Photo gallery
Exclusive nanoblock™ straps
Magnetic USB charger
Two colours: white or black
4 days standby-time battery life
Why is it revolutionary?
This is the beginning of a new area for our Wearable-as-a-Service solutions as it allows Omate to offer a full turnkey mobility experience to consumers by embedding a global SIM card along with secure location based services.
While IoT in general will be fine with Wi-Fi, Sigfox and LoRa; I believe Soft SIM will be embedded into more and more devices requiring global network coverage.
The Omate x nanoblock™ still uses a physical nano SIM card with full roaming capabilities in the US and the EU but not enough to be able to make a global trial run through this limited edition however our next models will use Soft SIMs, not eSIMs but software based virtual SIM cards which will be directly integrating into the code of the chipset.
We have already pre-embedded the complete SIM management t platform of Tata Communications into our web-based portal. It took us several months to implement it and we are now ready for prime-time.
The Soft SIM solution will allow us to design better product by saving space on our Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) and allowing better water-resistance to our devices and more importantly to allow the deployment of a global network by remotely assigning the SIM profiles anytime, anywhere.
Kids can wear and use the device straight out-of-the-box and parents do not need to buy any expensive SIM data plan from their local telecom operators to make it work.
Omate POM = Data Connection + Location Based Services.
The Omate POM service stands for “Piece of Mind” that includes the Wherecom LBS smartphone applications service along with encrypted secure data connection from Tata Communications MOVE™.
The Omate x nanoblock™ is available today for preorder from $149 including a 6 month POM free trial period and will start shipping on September 1st.
The Omate x nanoblock™ comes with a custom prepaid 6 month data plan. No string, no extra fee, the Omate POM services manage a pool of yearly data that allows daily average fair usage features such as video calls with parents and GPS location tracking.
After the free trial period, parents can either renew the Omate POM plan for $39 for six months extension or $69 for a year of services through web portal or buy a standard plan through their local telecom carrier.
Given the growing threat of cyber-crime, any device or application aimed at children must be safeguarded with the highest levels of security.
What sets the Omate x nanoblock™ apart from other children’s smartwatches is the extra security layer provided by the global private network of Tata Communications MOVE™ — IoT Connect. It means that parents can keep track of and in touch with their kids in real-time, but no data on the network can be intercepted by unscrupulous individuals.
The API-enabled, automated Tata Communications MOVE — IoT Connect™ platform is fully integrated with Omate’s business processes, giving the company real-time visibility over customers’ data usage patterns, and control over tariffs and billing. This means that when a new customer switches on the smartwatch for the first time, it is instantly connected. The software-defined capabilities of Tata Communications MOVE — IoT Connect™ also make it easy for Omate to customize features and content with children’s needs in mind.
