Apple Developing Custom Built-In SIM Card for iPhone?

[touchtone561]

No good will come of this, for anyone but apple, maybe.

The GSM standards are in place for a reason, and I like the ability to swap SIMs if just to test my devices. This is a vendor power ("control") grab, and anti-user.

The net gains don't outweigh the CONS.

No swapping iPhone to iPad. No hand me down phone without notifying big brother. No eBay sales without fear and doubt. An additional level of complexity for troubleshooting. Apple has only been making phones for 4 years and some of the smartphone innovations (e.g. iTunes App / Music Store, MobileMe) have been very good, others (no official GSM unlocking, microSIM) are bad practice.

Of course, some will feel that this is the best thing ever cause of the brand, but after antenna gate, and White iPhone difficulties, why add this risk to a new phone design when you only have one model a year?

 

[RalfTheDog]

...That's before even getting into how this can (and most certainly will) be used to lock phones to providers. It's just not going to fly in countries that have regulation in place to ensure consumer freedom of choice.

1. If this is done right, when you get to a new country, you turn on the phone, you see a list of compatible carriers and their rates. You tap the one you want to use and you are done.

2. There is talk of banning the use of countries that have regulation in place to ensure consumer freedom of choice.

 

[cameronjpu]

2. There is talk of banning the use of countries that have regulation in place to ensure consumer freedom of choice.

Smart - just ban using the country entirely. Much simpler than just continuing to use the tried and true SIM card.

 

[JDW]

Let's face it, people like you make up maybe 1% of users. They are not going to design their items solely with users like you in mind.

What a crock! Yet another American who knows of nothing outside US soil. And as an American who lives outside US soil, I have ever right to say that!

Our iPhones in Japan are locked to SoftBank. In Japan, I can live with that. But when I travel 4 times a year to Taiwan on business, I refuse to pay what SoftBank charges for use in Taiwan. Why should I when I can get a Taiwanese SIM to use the phone in Taiwan for a "reasonable price."

It's not about ripping off the carriers. It's about them ripping me off. Even if that is not something you care about, trust me, there are millions of people out there who have a different situation than you.

And so I worry if this is good for us in the end. Apple never does what is best for the consumer. They always do what is best for themselves. Most often, that works out well for us too, but not always. Time will tell how this SIM chip thing works out.

 

[drsmithy]

1. If this is done right, when you get to a new country, you turn on the phone, you see a list of compatible carriers and their rates. You tap the one you want to use and you are done.

And how long do think it will take for this service to be available in more than a tiny minority of countries ?

2. There is talk of banning the use of countries that have regulation in place to ensure consumer freedom of choice.

So, basically, don't sell the iPhone outside of the US ?

 

[SiriusExcelsior]

Um.. just wondering.. what if this wasn't for the GSM system, but for the CDMA system? It could make it much easier to transfer numbers on CDMA systems.

Heck. With the proper hardware, this could make a GSM/CDMA hybrid iPhone easier to develop! Apple won't need to make two models of the iPhone for GSM and CDMA; they'll just have one that they can reprogram with the proper carrier info~

But. If they get rid of the SIM slot, then I'm utterly against this (for reasons detailed in the past 7 pages). People who think a SIM-less phone is a good idea can fulfill their dreams, right now, by using a CDMA phone.

 

[Simon R.]

I don't like this idea at all. While it might save space and placement of the chip can be moved from the side to anywhere apple want.
I do (very rarely but still do) sometimes take my sim out to use in another device. This just cripples this flexibility which is so useful and sometimes essential to my needs.

Don't you think that's the whole point? This is Apple, afterall.... I own quite a few Apple products, including the iPhone 4 but this is just really disturbing news and brings the iPhone closer to being a 100% closed and Apple-controlled environment. Now they won't even allow me to take the SIM out if I want to use it in another phone, e.g. if I don't want to be carrying my expensive iPhone with me for some reason. If they continue this trend, eventually their customers will turn against them.

 

[Giuly]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; de-de) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

No more tethering by switching phones either. Well done, I'm so thrilled about this. You talk about freedom of carrier while Apple takes away the freedom to choose another phone. Nice.

"Mainly for Europe" is pretty much ironic, too. When Americans travel on their continent, they may not even end up in Canada or Mexico, as the USA are huge and provide everything you need.

The European Union is tiny compared to the US, hosting at least 4 carriers in all 27 stated, = 108 carriers on half the footage of the USA.
Even as Vodafone doesn't charge extra for roaming within other Vodafone networks anymore, it still sucks for other carriers who don't have other networks within their corporation (Like T-Mobile Germany, unless they team up with other ex-federal telecoms like TIM or A1 - which is not going to happen).

So only bad news, but hey, officially you can't switch SIMs anyways, at least across carriers. Logical to remove the base for unlocking. I hope there will be a tool soon to read a SIM card via card reader and write that data onto the chip. That's even more inconvenient than the SIM ejection tool already, though.

2. There is talk of banning the use of countries that have regulation in place to ensure consumer freedom of choice.

Oh, first you kill half the population of some country to bring freedom, then you take peoples freedom to use the phone of choice with their 24-month contract and the freedom to use any carrier they want with their phone.
I understand. What's the big difference from those Leninistic guys than? Only one public communist carrier or no way to switch carriers - no difference at all. At least we can forget abou the blahs over a good ol' McDonalds cheeseburger, while cutting down the overall lifetime.

If capitalistic corporates act like communistic states, there is still no freedom, nor democracy. Makes no difference who cuts down personal freedom, only difference being where the revenue goes to. Choose for yourself whether you like shareholder's pockets or national budget better. Freedom isn't there in all cases.

But as always: First they have best intentions, then they go crazy and then they get busted. Ask Microsoft's Windows-team or the Soviets about it, or watch Woody Allen's Bananas.

 

[garybUK]

Completely stupid idea. What happens when you wish to use YOUR phone that YOU'VE PAID FOR on a network that doesn't use this backwards technology?

Another instance of design over function, hope it works well with that Antenna design!

Also what happens when you want to switch from a iPhone to another device? want to move across all those contacts on your sim?

 

[djrod]

So…the new NC datacenter is to activate the iPhones of the whole world

 

[MaxiKana]

The GSM standards are in place for a reason, and I like the ability to swap SIMs if just to test my devices. This is a vendor power ("control") grab, and anti-user.

Yes, according to my thinking I'd say a phone working in the GSM network without a sim-card slot would be against GSM standards and the manufacturer shouldn't be allowed to market it as a GSM phone.

Since this is Apples own development and not a change to the GSM standard I won't buy a phone like this. The micro-sims apple use now are already making it hard to find a simcard for the iPhone. And you can't swap it to other phones easily. No thanks.

 

[bier-meister]

Potentially cool if they allow you to save different carrier profiles on the chip, then it will make traveling much easier. I arrive in x country and just switch carrier in the menu, no carrying/forgetting multiple sims around

 

[jmggs]

Apple dictatorship. Super controlled system.
Apple is getting closer and closer (apple mac apps store is one example of closing the circle). Apple is getting worst than Microsoft.

The Microsoft is suppose to be the bad guys but today i have my doubts.

 

[Tanguyvd]

About time. SIM card and holder is old and clunky. Use the space for something better.

Would make sence, drop the SIM, replace it with an on board chip and add the MicroSD slot for personal backup of basic info (contacts etc) can be used as a standard with other phones... however, apple won't be doing this, they'll probably come up with something completely new we'll all applaud

I'm really liking the sound of this. One-rumor-step closer to a multi-carrier iPhone.

For Europe i don't see the difference between switching the physical SIM card or swapping provider using iTunes...

 

[EvilMole]

We might be missing the bigger picture here... a virtual sim card would allow the phone to quickly change between carriers on the fly.

What if apple were to purchase minutes in bulk from all of the major carriers and instead of signing up with AT&T or Verizon for your phone plan you now sign up directly with apple and pay your monthly bill through iTunes. The virtual sim could decide which carrier has the best signal or cheapest price at given moment / location.

They now become a virtual carrier while they spend their $50B to build an apple owned 4G network. This would allow apple to control the entire customer experience and they could stop this nonsense of voice data vs text messages vs internet vs tethered internet mess we have today.

Imagine a world where you pay $99 a month for 5GB of data regardless of what it's used for?

Yeah, and how likely is it that the carriers would go for a deal like that, which cut their own revenue?

I'd say zero, personally.

 

[Becordial]

If true, this means that iPhone is going carrier free at point of sale. Get ready world, Apple is coming.

Haven't they had that for a long time already?

 

[ilp]

Hmmm.....so let me get this straight:

I am supposed to believe that Steve Jobs and a myriad of wireless communications companies are going to engage in a massive conspiracy designed to give the consumer more freedom over how they use their own products and services?

Steve Jobs and cell phone service companies don't exactly have a great track record when it comes to giving consumers control over their own property. I will believe this one when I see it.

Remember the original iPhone and the original activation experience, with AT&T, where you take it home and activate it at your own pace, without having to deal with AT&T employees? You could PORT your old number while sitting at your computer at home? Jobs required AT&T to upgrade their systems to handle this. He knew that this would be a key part of the adoption experience.

Do you remember getting your cell phones before? Remember having to deal with the carriers in their own stores? It was never a pleasant experience.

Many people select technology that is less hassle to acquire and own. This development gives people on the fence another reason to get an iPhone over the competition.

 

[ingramLee]

Now thieves can't take out the SIM card. They'll have to turn it back on in a lead box or in some deep woods.

+1

 

[xwk88]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Ok I rarely ever comment here anymore for one simple reason... Ppl just seem to read the title and go crazy over it Wat no more sim card!!!!! That's stupid!!!!! It's my last iPhone ever!!! No no and no.... If u read the article carrier bundles would be available from the app store meaning the only change now is done virtually.... No lil tiny pieces of plastic to keep track of or in the iPhone 4 case to have to cut to fit..... U get to the uk and download the info for a carrier set up Ur account thru an app and there u go no more roaming..... Apple knows ppl won't buy if thy can't switch carriers overseas..... Comon guys it's not rocket science just read the article(ram like memory for carrier info)

 

[trekkie604]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Ok I rarely ever comment here anymore for one simple reason... Ppl just seem to read the title and go crazy over it Wat no more sim card!!!!! That's stupid!!!!! It's my last iPhone ever!!! No no and no.... If u read the article carrier bundles would be available from the app store meaning the only change now is done virtually.... No lil tiny pieces of plastic to keep track of or in the iPhone 4 case to have to cut to fit..... U get to the uk and download the info for a carrier set up Ur account thru an app and there u go no more roaming..... Apple knows ppl won't buy if thy can't switch carriers overseas..... Comon guys it's not rocket science just read the article(ram like memory for carrier info)

But you have to go through big brother to change carriers (Steve approved carriers most likely). Today with my factory unlocked iPhone, I do not. That is a problem.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

well if Apple does this I hope GSM comes down hard on them and declares the phone non-GSM complaint as it would not be. A key part of the complaince is a removeable sim card.

Also I find it funny people argue how it would make traveling over sees easier which I honestly do not find being a good argument for it.
A argument against it would be would be what about the people who have a back up phone they like to use for times when the likelyhood of Cell phone getting damage or stolen is higher. With out having a removable sim card makes that a no go. Lets face it a lot more people have a back up phone than who travel over sees and will use the junk phone more often. I average about once a month on my junk phone some times less but really nice for those times. If and when it gets drop into mud I just wip it off and do not care if it really breaks it. I have 2-3 others spares I can go to.

 

[MacKeeperFanMod]

Idea itself is pretty interesting, but I don't believe Apple can get vast majority of large operators support this new SIMs. So why should they spend their resources in an attempts to do so?..

 

[marksman]

Sounds like a good idea, however, you won't be able to swap SIM cards then... Which makes it stupid. I spend 6 months in one country and 6 months in the other, so I have a SIM card for both countries, and I just swap it out at the airport.

I am not sure what people read in this that makes them think this will not be better than currently having to swap out sims.

Nothing there says you can't use it to switch between carriers, in fact that is kind of the point. It offers more flexibility, not less.

 

[drsmithy]

I am not sure what people read in this that makes them think this will not be better than currently having to swap out sims.

All the things you could do with a SIM that you couldn't do with this, combined with all the things you potentially couldn't do with this that you could do with a SIM.

To deliver a benefit to the customer of... Basically nothing.

Nothing there says you can't use it to switch between carriers, in fact that is kind of the point. It offers more flexibility, not less.

How can it possibly do that when a non-trivial part of SIM flexibility is being able to remove and replace the thing without any constraints, something an embedded SIM is inherently incapable of ?

 

[twoodcc]

this sounds like something apple would do, except that it might not work in the US