April 3: Steve Jobs loves to play mind games with hackers and code crackers.

The Apple boss seems to have thrown down another challenge to the so-called “jailbreakers”, including those in India, with his eagerly awaited new gizmo — the iPad.

The iPad will be available in two versions — a wi-fi version that was launched in the US today — and a wi-fi cum 3G version that is expected to debut within a fortnight.

It’s been long suspected that the iPad — a tablet computer that could pose a serious threat to the ubiquitous laptop — would try to tie the code breakers in knots with a micro SIM card.

It now turns out that those suspicions — voiced in several blogs back in January — were well founded.

Apple has deliberately picked a SIM card format that isn’t used by the telecom industry.

The SIM card for the iPad will have a 12mm by 15mm dimension — roughly half the size of the telecom industry’s standard SIM measuring 15mm by 25mm. This micro SIM format is only used in the US in a GPS watch for children.

This is bad news for Indians who may have been hoping to snap up a grey market device and pop their 2G SIM cards into it — and pray that they would somehow work even if a little slowly. It’s a trick that they had learnt when the iPhone was launched in 2007.

The iPhone was formally launched in India 12 months after it had debuted in the US and Europe, handing grey market operators and code crackers a lucrative business proposition.

This time it won’t be so easy.

The wi-fi version won’t find too many takers in India because India doesn’t have a very robust network that would give users a pleasurable experience anywhere, anytime.

If the wi-fi version doesn’t find takers, what about the 3G version?

Indians have a lovely word that encapsulates enterprise and ingenuity: it’s called jugaad. This was evident when the code breakers found a way to “unlock” the iPhone three years ago.

Already, there’s chatter in blogosphere that the normal SIM card could be snipped and re-sized to suit the iPad’s peculiar design format.

But not everyone is sure that it will work well — if at all.

“The standard-size SIM can be converted into a micro SIM by trimming the plastic around the electronic contact area to specifications. However, it is not recommended and there are technical issues involved with the usability of such SIM cards,” Rajat Agrawal, editor at webportal CellPassion, told The Telegraph.

Software hackers at Delhi’s Gaffar Market were still cocky about their skills in “jailbreaking” to circumvent any technical hurdles that Apple may have created.

Hackers use the term “jailbreaking” to describe the act of overriding the restrictions that bar users from installing unauthorised software on any device.

The micro SIM card was developed by the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) to offer things like more storage space on-chip for provider applications, increased control and security functions. AT&T is the sole partner for Apple in the US.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the micro SIM card would be used in the devices that are legitimately sold in India. The iPad launch in India will be some way off — essentially because the country has yet to build a credible 3G network. Auctions for 3G spectrum are due to be held next week and a proper 3G network won’t be available until the last quarter of this calendar year.

Romal Shetty, telecom analyst with KPMG India, said: “The product (iPad) is completely based on wireless connectivity. India is far behind in that space. It will take a few more years to have good wireless networks in India.”

According to him, the value-added services (VAS) market in India is very small compared with the US and the UK. “VAS accounts for only about 10 per cent of the mobile telephony market in India. Of this, only 3 per cent is dominated by data,” Shetty added.

Indian operators like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone may explore business opportunities with Apple for the iPad once they establish 3G networks.