First let me start by saying this is a stupid move by AT&T. It does nothing but dissuade customers from using their service. Generally SIM cards tend to cost about $15, however most corporate owned stores for the carriers will provide them without charge if they are activating them on a plan. I would imagine that Apple will likely charge between $15 - $30 for a new AppleSIM whenever they begin to make them available.
I will offer a small guess on my part as to why AT&T decided to do this and why Verizon decided to forgo supporting it all together. They are scared of the position that Apple is slowly putting them in. Many years ago, shortly after the iPhone 3G was announced there were a series of patents that Apple filed for that if acted upon would radically revolutionize the mobile carrier industry. The primary of these patents was titled "Dynamic carrier selection" which was granted in 2011.
The patent describes an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) system that uses a proxy bidding system to solicit bids from carrier networks to provide services to user devices, which then allows a users device to obtain available networks from their location and select one to use. I've included a link below to an AI article from 2011 when the patent was approved, however I can no longer find the article original documenting the filing which also noted several potentially related patents.
One of those related patents dealt more explicitly with how a users device could utilize such a system. It described methods of querying a server to retrieve a list of available provider networks (likely the MVNO server described in the linked patent). This server would then provide a list of available networks including some available metadata which the device would determine which network to use. The device would use it's own information along with the metadata to determine several factors, such as which of the carriers has the best signal, which has the least expensive bid, which network has available capacity on the nearest towers, etc. The device would then use this information to select a network based on an algorithm that would result in the best experience for the user while using the least expensive resources available.
Another of those related patents which I can not locate described a system for handing off a data connection from one carrier network to another carrier network. This originally wouldn't have much meaning, however looking at a longer term vision would reveal that once Apple develops the systems to make all communication on their devices available as packetized data, this would be a major function of Apple operating a system that would allow the users device to truly dynamically switch to whichever carrier has available capacity, with good signal, and is the least expensive to use.
When this patent linked below, and the related patents (which I'm really sad I can't locate them) are looked at as a whole their potential is for Apple to become their own (MVNO) network operator which would push the carriers to becoming simply a "dumb pipe" that simply bids to provide available bandwidth to Apple. This would radically alter the mobile network industry and shift a massive amount of power away from the existing major network operators.
It's somewhat rational that those networks (like Verizon and AT&T) who have invested heavily to provide all sorts of supplementary features and services would not be interested in losing access to their consumer base's information, nor their additional revenue as Apple's system would likely result in favorable pricing as carriers seek to out bid each other for supplying data to the system.
Apple tried to take a step toward this system a couple years back when they were seeking to use an embedded SIM in the iPhone 5. Unfortunately (and likely for the same reason AT&T is doing this) the carriers in the EU colluded to block support of Apples devices should they move to an embedded SIM. I believe this is Apple's second attempt to take yet another step in this direction.
For Apple to successfully put this system in place they will likely need to put the carriers in the logical "Prisoners Dilemma". This will likely work fairly easily in the US where there are laws in place to help prevent collusion. Companies like the smaller regional carriers, and the smaller players such as T-Mobile and Sprint would gladly bid to supply bandwidth to Apple. This would in turn force AT&T and Verizon to either bid to supply data to Apple or stand to lose a large portion of their revenue stream. This however will be much more difficult in other areas of the world. If Apple is successful at rolling out such a system world wide, they would become the largest carrier in the world, with the ability to offer something that no other carrier could. They would be able to offer a truly world wide service that would be seamless and invisible to the end user.
My Apologies for the wall of text, but I for one can't wait until I can buy an iPhone direct from Apple and have it automatically provide me with the best service available wherever I'm located regardless of which carrier is operating the tower.
Source:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/11/02/09/apple_granted_patent_where_carriers_bid_for_iphone_service
-PopinFRESH
EDIT: P.S. if you are going to quote me, please spare the thread and don't quote the whole wall of text
