Why don't CDMA systems have SIM cards in the handset?
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Kate Gerwig, Editorial Director
The GSM air interface standard, which uses SIM cards, was designed so that your phone number
and other information that identifies you as you -- could be easily transferred from one phone to
another by simply transferring the card. The CDMA standard was not designed so that
your identity would be that mobile. CDMA "hardwires" your identity into the components of the phone
so that, among many other reasons, wireless operators hold more control over their customers and
the mobile phones they use.
This was first published in October 2004