The SIM Card is About to Die

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
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Apple has just sounded the death knell for the ubiquitous SIM card. The company is beginning the switch to a reprogrammable SIM that will enable a change in carriers and networks with a simple software tweak. History indicates where Apple goes, other manufacturers will usually follow.

The wounds are mortal. Within a year or two, you'll probably never see a SIM card in an Apple product again.
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just another way for a company to take an aspect away from a customer who can DIY, and monetize it somehow. Like charging to reprogram it for another carrier to use. Sure your phone is unlocked and free to choose what carrier you want to use. But oh wait, you wanna switch carriers? Sure we can do that for you..................$29.95.
 
"Apple first fought and won against a consortium of other phone manufacturers who were proposing a different (and more advanced) nano-SIM"

A nano-sim card is the same as the standard micro sim card but just has some of the plastic cut off. Just this line makes me suspect that the author is very biased in favor of Apple.
 
Project_Nightmare said:
"Apple first fought and won against a consortium of other phone manufacturers who were proposing a different (and more advanced) nano-SIM"

A nano-sim card is the same as the standard micro sim card but just has some of the plastic cut off. Just this line makes me suspect that the author is very biased in favor of Apple.
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I don't think you understand how standards work
 
NIVO said:
just another way for a company to take an aspect away from a customer who can DIY, and monetize it somehow. Like charging to reprogram it for another carrier to use. Sure your phone is unlocked and free to choose what carrier you want to use. But oh wait, you wanna switch carriers? Sure we can do that for you..................$29.95.
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I dont see why you think there would be a charge for this. It looks to just be a menu driven system like joining a new wifi network. You see list of carrier signals in your area and just click on which one you want to use. I like it.
 
Mini sims have been around since the mid 90's and micro sims since early 2003. Apple had nothing to do them their invention. Iphone came out in late 2000's as I recall.
Will other manufacturers follow suite? Maybe, maybe not. The nano sim made sense for phone makers as it was even smaller, and since the electronics of the sim itself did not change, only the plastic card it is on, there was no reason for the carriers to not support it either. It is a lot easier, and cheaper to mail out a sim than it is to have someone bring the device to the store. Just saying, this is not the same fight as going from mini to nano. Not that there was a fight in the first place.
 
"SIM Reprogramming charge: $20"

Because 80% of the population can't do it on their own. Blatant money grab.
 
Theyre going in the right direction if SIM card is being completely replaced. However this is not gonna bode well with customers down the line:

1) If they stay with a reprogrammable sim, what happens when like most disposable items, the sim develops a flaw? Does this improvement require carriers nickle and diming consumers over this?

2) If they go completely simless, like CDMA phones does this mean when I sell my device the sim keeps the data that I have stored on the sim?

3) Are they gonna charge me a Activation/Upgrade fee with a Sim reprogramme fee?
 
How is this any different then CDMA? I understand how it's removable unlike CDMA which is awesome, but the article is talking about them being non-removable soon, which would make it basically identical to CDMA (and wouldn't the carriers also charge for reprogramming?)
 
Project_Nightmare said:
"Apple first fought and won against a consortium of other phone manufacturers who were proposing a different (and more advanced) nano-SIM"

A nano-sim [presumably the apple shaved less advanced nano-sim] card is the same as the standard micro sim card but just has some of the plastic cut off [which would not be more advanced]. Just this line makes me suspect that the author is very biased in favor of Apple.
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edited to show i do not comprehend how you came to your conclusion.

the other phone manufacturers, proposed a more advanced nano-sim than apple, and apple won with its less advanced nano-sim. and stating that apple won with the less advanced nano-sim (instead of the more advanced nano-sim from the other phone manufacturers) is stating bias towards apple? Sounds like the author is stating that apple bullied the market to just make things smaller without any technological advancement.
 
PCunicorn said:
How is this any different then CDMA? I understand how it's removable unlike CDMA which is awesome, but the article is talking about them being non-removable soon, which would make it basically identical to CDMA (and wouldn't the carriers also charge for reprogramming?)
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Well CDMA, at least in the US, generally locks a phone to the carrier/network and Sprint/Verizon will not allow any other phones on their network. With this SIM card you can choose which carrier you want, so basically like having a couple different SIM cards all in one.
 
Was I the only one, after reading the headline, that thought, "SIM card needs food, badly!" ?
 
So how exactly is this going to work for carriers around the world? Apple cannot possibly account for ALL carriers that use SIM cards. Plus prepaid sub carriers. Unless they account for all of them then by all means, but somehow I dont think its going to happen.

It took them almost 7 years to come to TMobile, and other smaller sub carriers with Sprint, and Virgin Mobile - so I cant imagine how long its going to take to program the rest.
 
Igroock said:
So how exactly is this going to work for carriers around the world? Apple cannot possibly account for ALL carriers that use SIM cards. Plus prepaid sub carriers. Unless they account for all of them then by all means, but somehow I dont think its going to happen.

It took them almost 7 years to come to TMobile, and other smaller sub carriers with Sprint, and Virgin Mobile - so I cant imagine how long its going to take to program the rest.
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One guy in the thread said it's gonna scan for carriers in the area. Not sure if that's actually how it works.
 
I see a potential costly problem for people who uses the same SIM-card in several phones.
Also, I'll bet this will not make it fast, easy and cheap to get to a local carrier when traveling abroad. I usually get a pre-paid Sim-card with a couple of GB of surfing on even before traveling to a country.

If done right this SIM-card less approach could make things easier and cheaper for the customer, but my bet is on the exact opposite.
 
Ocean said:
edited to show i do not comprehend how you came to your conclusion.

the other phone manufacturers, proposed a more advanced nano-sim than apple, and apple won with its less advanced nano-sim. and stating that apple won with the less advanced nano-sim (instead of the more advanced nano-sim from the other phone manufacturers) is stating bias towards apple? Sounds like the author is stating that apple bullied the market to just make things smaller without any technological advancement.
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The only 'advancement' was that Nokia/Moto's solution wouldn't have required a tray. Apple's version of 4FF is actually compatible with older equipment with an adapter. Something tells me that if it had been the reverse people would be complaining that Apple was breaking compatibility with everyone else.

Igroock said:
So how exactly is this going to work for carriers around the world? Apple cannot possibly account for ALL carriers that use SIM cards. Plus prepaid sub carriers. Unless they account for all of them then by all means, but somehow I dont think its going to happen.

It took them almost 7 years to come to TMobile, and other smaller sub carriers with Sprint, and Virgin Mobile - so I cant imagine how long its going to take to program the rest.
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It wasn't really a technical limitation that kept them from TMobile or Sprint. They just didn't care for those smaller markets at the time. If you look at the specs of the Air 2, it pretty much supports all of the necessary bands for virtually all of the LTE providers in the US, and it looks like everyone but Verizon is on board. Only the Mini is going to an issue since it does not support TD-LTE which is going to be necessary for Sprint and China.
 
MajorDomo said:
History indicates where Apple goes, other manufacturers will usually follow.
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Just like how all cell phones switched to Apple's 40pin/lightning instead of micro/mini USB... oh wait...

Apple is a small percentage of the smartphone market.

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Source:http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-v-android-market-share-2014-5

If you believe that Apple is going to dictate what programming technology that big red sector uses when they are about 15% of the total market, then you'd probably believe that FIAT is going to dictate terms to the American auto industry as well.

Seriously, Apple doesn't dictate shit except to Apple fans.
 
canna said:
Just like how all cell phones switched to Apple's 40pin/lightning instead of micro/mini USB... oh wait...

Apple is a small percentage of the smartphone market.

If you believe that Apple is going to dictate what programming technology that big red sector uses when they are about 15% of the total market, then you'd probably believe that FIAT is going to dictate terms to the American auto industry as well.

Seriously, Apple doesn't dictate shit except to Apple fans.
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You know always hate these Apples to Oranges comparisons of Apple to Android. You cant compare Apple to Android, because Apple is a company and Android is an operating system. What you need to do is compare Apple to Google, Apple to Samsung, Apple to Motorola, etc. In that regard, Apple has a complete lock on the industry. Not singular cellphone manufacturer can touch Apple's dominance. Just because 80% of the world is running Android is irrelevant, since that is divided among many different companies.
 
Actually, Samsung's worldwide market share is twice that of the Iphone. Almost all of them Android. In the US, Apple does do better than anywhere else.
 
Now if we could just ship every phone with every band from every carrier we'd really have something
 
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