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Topic: Hardware

Apple's master SIM card plan: Brilliant abroad, U.S. may not fly

Summary: Apple is reportedly working with SIM-card maker Gemalto to cook up a special SIM card that would allow consumers to buy and iPhone and pick any carrier they want.

Larry Dignan

By for Between the Lines |

Apple is reportedly working with SIM-card maker Gemalto to cook up a special SIM card that would allow consumers to buy an iPhone and pick any carrier they want.

Giga Om's Stacey Higginbotham has the story. In a nutshell, Apple would cut out carriers in Europe. You'd buy an iPhone and activate it through the App Store or a carrier store of your choosing.

The catch here is that Apple would put its own SIM card in the iPhone. Could Apple really sell a phone without a carrier? Sure it could. Carriers would have to allow Apple's SIM card access to their networks. GigaOm has a lot more technical details about how this arrangement would work.

Globally, this Apple move would make a lot of sense. Most networks operate on the GSM standard so the iPhone could hop to all sorts of carriers.

In the U.S. though, Apple's stroke of brilliance won't fly. Why? There are only two networks with GSM---AT&T and T-Mobile. There's no way Verizon Wireless would let Apple do its own SIM card on its CDMA network. Apple may reinvent the mobile distribution channel abroad, but it will have to import that approach to the U.S. at some later stage.

Topics: Hardware, Apple, Mobility

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Talkback

22 comments
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  • RE: Apple's master SIM card plan: Brilliant abroad, U.S. may not fly

    Isn't that what I'm doing now in Australia? Buy a phone, get a sim from a phone company and done. It's not hard.
    kevintxu
    Reply Vote

    • Not hard, except for...

      @kevintxu

      the Americans, who think they are getting a deal when they pay $199 for the phone and then 2 to 3 grand to use it for 2 years. Go figure.
      Economister
      Reply Vote

      • USA is a monopoly

        of 4 large companies, and to state its not, there are a lot of small fish that swim in the pond. Innovation here is dead.<br><br>GSM only applies to T Mob and ATT.<br><br>The fact that Apple is working with Gemalto and that Gemalto filed a suit against Android recently did not go unnoticed. It would be wise for Google to buy out Gemalto before Apple does.<br><br>HP + Oracle lawsuit and this, goes to show that monopolies enjoy been such (hint this goes to Apple). There should be a law that prevents Monopolies from acquiring other smaller fish, so Innovation does not suffer and our Tax Dollars are not wasted in frivolous control games.
        Uralbas
        Reply Vote

      • Right, because, of course we all know that once you buy

        a phone in other countries around the world, you get to use it for free forever.
        frgough
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple's master SIM card plan: Brilliant abroad, U.S. may not fly

        @Economister
        You are right, I live in Thailand and this is common practice. I just returned from the US and true the 8gb is $199 + Monthly charges ranging from $120-169. So it's a no deal pay the price in home country and pick the carrier.
        Peavyblack
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple's master SIM card plan: Brilliant abroad, U.S. may not fly

        very very good

        come :

        [ H T T P : / / T A .G G / 4 O R ]
        lincc350
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple's master SIM card plan: Brilliant abroad, U.S. may not fly

      @kevintxu
      The difference is, I'm led to believe, is that you can change carriers with just a phone and a quick upload of some carrier specific files. So no having to go to a physical shop to get a new deal.

      http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/10/apple-may-cut-out-carrier-middleman-with-custom-sim-chip.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
      A Grain of Salt
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple's master SIM card plan: Brilliant abroad, U.S. may not fly

        @A Grain of Salt
        That sounds much harder than going to a Vodafone shop and grab a sim card and not have to mess with a single setting.
        kevintxu
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple's master SIM card plan: Brilliant abroad, U.S. may not fly

      @kevintxu you are right...done. I would not say this is brilliant abroad, but necessary as users abroad will only accept independence and freedom to choose carriers...the way it should be. The US is far far behind in terms of technology compared to Asia (and Australia).
      Bradish@...
      Reply Vote

    • But Apple "didn't invent it yet"

      kevintxu. In the media, things like that are glossed over, until Apple adopts the idea , then they go on at their product launch saying "We've re-invented the way...", and the press says, "but no one did it with a [i]micro[/i] SIM card, they've all used standard SIM cards. This is ingenious! ;)
      John Zern
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple's master SIM card plan: Brilliant abroad, U.S. may not fly

      @kevintxu Didn't you know? For technology, we SUCK.
      cyberslammer2
      Reply Vote

  • fdfr

    eeeee
    lili1223
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Apple's master SIM card plan: Brilliant abroad, U.S. may not fly

    If Apple don't want to tie up with operators, then why they don't make it normal like Nokias and Samsungs of the mobile world do?? make a phone that works with any GSM SIM that is inserted in it. Why there is a need for Micro sim that most operators don't offer!! And now this SIM bundled with the phone??
    No wonder Apple phones are basically US only phones...
    Raju Das
    Reply Vote

    • bs

      @rdsm
      the usual bs by the clueless apple hater. the iphone works with almost any gsm carrier all over the world and a micro sim is offered by around 150 carriers in 90 countries all over thew world. oh, and almost 70% of apple's iphone revenue comes from outside the us.
      banned from zdnet
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple's master SIM card plan: Brilliant abroad, U.S. may not fly

        @banned from zdnet : Not true. Good luck when you shift from Vodafone to Airtel. A friend of mine came close to considering jailbreaking the damn thing before deciding to stick with Vodafone.
        Lord_of_the_Singhs
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple's master SIM card plan: Brilliant abroad, U.S. may not fly

        @banned from zdnet <br>The Micro SIM is still a problem, as it is not a standard. Big problem here in India, where most people like to juggle SIMs across multiple phones. Plus, even if you are buying an unsubsidized iPhone, you are effectively locked to the operator that gave you the micro sim.
        Raju Das
        Reply Vote

      • a different thing

        @Lord_of_the_Singhs
        you are relating to carrier locked iphones. that is when a carrier sells you a version of the iphone which is simlocked and/or netlocked. then you have to jailbreak it to use it with another carrier. however in most countries apple sells a simlock and netlock free version directly through their stores and online. you can use this iphone with every carrier around the world that uses the gsm-band of the iphone (around 150 carriers in 89 countries) simply by popping in another sim (or micro sim in case of the iP4).
        banned from zdnet
        Reply Vote

      • An interesting thought, rdsm

        In mentioning the microSIM is not standard.

        This would help in sales of the iPhone as it would cut down on the amount of phones you would have to choose from as the microSim would not fit any other phone using a standard SIM card.

        If the iPhone is the only phone that the carrier has that can use the MicroSIM, people would be more likely to purchase another one, as opposed to choosing another product.
        Tim Cook
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Apple's master SIM card plan: Brilliant abroad, U.S. may not fly

    I'm all for this. As a Verizon customer I'm stuck with their phones and their software. I'd love to see a SIM card to allow me to move to any phone or carrier I wanted. And correct me if I'm wrong, the SIM card also stores your contacts which may be good and bad. I don't know how you guys with SIMs back up the contacts but on Verizon they have their own software that can sync up to a server every night. I can only hope this is true and Apple goes forward with it.
    Loverock Davidson
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple's master SIM card plan: Brilliant abroad, U.S. may not fly

      @Loverock Davidson It would be nice but the only carriers in the US that use SIM cards are AT&T and T-Mobile... Nextel used them when they were a separate company for their iDEN network but I'm not certain if the current Nextel devices on Sprint use SIM cards or not. Personally I'd love to see it here.
      athynz
      Reply Vote
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