Apple Built A SIM Card That Lets You Switch Between AT&T, Sprint, And T-Mobile

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/16/apple-sim/

by calvin_c • 12 years ago

376 184 12 years ago

IkmoIkmo• 12 years ago

Probably the most interesting thing from Apple today, in my opinion. The ability to buy short term plans from different providers effortlessly can turn my tablet into a much more versatile device, and increase competition and reduce long-term carrier lock-in.

It's pretty sweet and if it can set a standard for phones then we'll see carriers become true utilities between which customers can switch easily if they get poor service. In short, pretty awesome.

Today's carrier system kind of feels like this dinosaur, like a landline... archaic and unnecessary. With so many people travelling, changing places, changing technology etc, it makes a lot of sense to move from subscriptions to short-time payments, and eventually, pay-per second of use on the fly, directly, without an account or monthly statement, with a push payment instead of a pull payment. (digital currencies being a key element here). Anyway, getting a bit too off-topic here, but cool first move by Apple for sure!

click1702• 12 years ago

it makes a lot of sense to move from subscriptions to short-time payments

It makes sense for the consumer, but I don't think that's in the financial interest of the companies who have worked hard to make long-term service agreements for you phone something that is colloquially accepted in North America. I'm with you, I'd like to see the market change. Just.. don't hold your breath.

I understnad Pay-As-You-Go is much bigger in the UK, I wonder if that's because the companies there never tried to push long-term agreements of if they've actually found PAYG more profitable.

mikeash• 12 years ago

T-Mobile has moved off long-term contracts almost entirely. AT&T is pushing their Next program hard, which decouples phone buying from the subscription (I believe you have to pay off the phone if you cancel, but the payments are separate and you don't lose out on a subsidy). Things seem to be moving pretty fast in that direction, and I'm hopeful.

soylentcola2• 12 years ago

I think the real issue is that US customers (at least) have been conditioned to think of a smart phone as something that costs between $0 and $300 due to the common use of contracts and subsidies. Even if a carrier offers a non-contract plan, they are often not that much better as far as price (with some exceptions like TMobile and some MVNOs), so they balk at paying $650-850 for a handset.

That was one of the things I liked most about the Nexus 5 when it came out. Even unlocked you were getting a current gen phone, unlocked, worked with three major carriers and many MVNOs, and only cost $350. At that point, it's not as tough to make the jump and ditch the contract. Without the contract, you can just leave if a competitor offers a better deal or if your carrier screws you over.

Even with this new SIM, I imagine you're still either gonna pay full price or you're gonna get it subsidized with a contract and then have the option of flipping over to some secondary plan when needed. Might be good for smaller carriers with good rates but less coverage. Phone works great at home but drops off when you go to another town? Just flip to a prepaid SIM from a cheap prepaid carrier with service in the area.

justincormack• 12 years ago

PAYG and contract both exist in the uk. Initially you had to be able to get credit to get a contract, so eg kids got PAYG. The carriers preferred contracts as it was guaranteed income. Its a bit more flexible now, people choose what they want.

spiralpolitik• 12 years ago

Originally in the UK market contracts were the norm. Then Pay-As-You-Go opened the cellphone market up to teenagers, people on a limited budget, and people who used cellphones infrequently. That combined with the release of the Nokia 5150 and Nokia 3310 phones drove the market away from contracts.

Plus in the UK the regulator is much more active in promoting competition (VNOs, Number Portability, tariff changes are all things the regulator has done to promote competition). In the US the regulator couldn't care less.

MichaelGG• 12 years ago

Is this an Apple thing? People like (first hit on Google) http://www.bluefish.com/dual-multi-imsi,221.html don't offer the same thing already?

scholia5• 12 years ago

There's nothing new about "soft" SIM cards. The problem has been that carriers like them locked to their own services. (This is true in Europe and I assume in the US also...)

jrochkind12• 12 years ago

AT&T, unless they've taken it away again yet, offers an iPad plan that's $25 for 1G or 3 months whichever comes first. Which is kind of sort of a short term plan.

mikinner• 12 years ago

I am surprised Sprint is on board, they have always been difficult to work with in the past.

oDot• 12 years ago

I'm actually with the subscription model, it gives you peace of mind. The thing is it's done bad in the US.

Here in Israel there was a big carrier "revolution" and now you can get a subscription for about $25 a month that gives you 6gb of surfing (then it slows you down), unlimited calls & text and access to this plan in several countries such as the UK and France, with more coming. For other countries it just costs something like 10 cents a minute for an outgoing call.

This way I only pay a fixed amount of money a month and spare the flux.

Steko• 12 years ago

A nice side effect should (eventually) be tolerable Internet prices when roaming.

ejz• 12 years ago

I definitely agree with this. It represents an interesting power shift; before the core technology was your SIM, and your phone shifted around your carrier. Apple kind of wants to change this by making it so that the iPhone is at the center, with the carrier being subservient to the consumers' whims. I would think this is a step too far for most carriers, but then again, Apple got carriers to agree to it...

79523• 12 years ago

In a truly competitive system there would be no need to ever conciously think about the carrier you were using. Your data would just be routed securely using the best means available and people would compete to be the best connection. Instead we have an absurd situation where carriers want to prevent customers using their product!

mmphosis• 12 years ago

In a truly non-competitive system, we might be more conscious and more connected. Our internet connections might be routed using free high-speed publicly available internet and people would complain. Instead we have an absurd situation where a cartel of so-called "carriers" charge paying customers a toll for using the internet!

TheRealDunkirk• 12 years ago

"Securely." You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

tapsboy• 12 years ago

With Multipath TCP across multiple LTE networks, this could enable substantial improvement in network performance.

Edit: I meant it as a future possibility

gcb02• 12 years ago

from the screen shot you can only have one active.

beagle3• 12 years ago

SIM = Subscriber Identity Module - it's just what identifies you to the network.

To be on multiple networks at the same time with current technology you need multiple modems and RF equipment.

gcb02• 12 years ago

that probably overrides/ignores the SIM card and use hardcoded GSM ids from the device. as if it has a sim slot plus 3 hardcoded sim, that you can select which one to use on software.

so i doubt you will be able to activate those hardcoded sims with any plan that easily. i doubt you will even be able to activate it without apple help.

but of course, im just guessing. have no idea if that is the case.

durkie• 12 years ago

what about sprint? I thought they were cdma.

jkap• 12 years ago

LTE uses SIM cards regardless of the network's voice system.

gcb42• 12 years ago

and correct you are. see this comment that links to the patent https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8468692

so apple is trying to take over the throne from the operators.

hayksaakian2• 12 years ago

Why would they NOT talk about this today?

It baffles me.

sukh• 12 years ago

IMSI switching is difficult, experimental and heavily patented by many.

wy2• 12 years ago

I agree. Such an improvement of user experiences of mobile devices (tablets so far).

defen2• 12 years ago

So with this tech, how long until Apple starts offering MVNO services? And eventually completely destroys whatever profit margins the current operators have?

sp332• 12 years ago

MVNOs still pay bulk data fees to real MNOs. And their traffic gets lower priority on the network. So the only current operators they could challenge is other MVNOs.

defen2• 12 years ago

Yeah, I was imagining a situation where with "a little more software" Apple products could automatically detect which networks are available, their relative speeds, etc, and automatically use the right one all the time. And they could buy in sufficiently large bulk to get a good deal on the data rates.

oamoruwa• 12 years ago

http://www.bloomberg.com/visual-data/industries/detail/telec...

wy2• 12 years ago

This is really an interesting feature (let's say 'feature' at this moment). Actually, in person, I do really consider this is an tremendous improvement for any carrier-required mobile devices.

It makes mobile devices really "mobile". Customers do not have to physically enter a local carrier store to add a new line/data-plan or transfer to another carrier. It might save a great amount of time and efforts especially when traveling overseas.

Hope it came to iPhone in near future. Due to the easiness of switching carriers, hope it would help bringing down prices.

wlesieutre2• 12 years ago

Does it work with prepaid, or just contracts? If you could just temporarily swap over to T-Mobile's $30 prepaid unlimited data, that would be a big deal.

soylentcola2• 12 years ago

Not sure. I mean...I've swapped cards to switch carriers before but I never thought buying or swapping to another SIM was enough trouble that I'd need a programmable or multi-profile SIM.

I'm sure it's technically possible but the carriers could just as easily make it only work with certain plans. I remember needing a SIM activation kit to get on that $30 plan when I first got it. You couldn't just use any TMo SIM without some code from the kit and you couldn't get it in any TMo store. No idea if the adding of the code needed to activate the SIM would work with this new thing.

wlesieutre2• 12 years ago

I'm mostly thinking it would be interesting for mobile data competition. Though so many people are tied up in complicated family plans that maybe it doesn't matter much.

If my AT&T 2-year commitment ran out and I could just press a button, put in a code from a card I bought at Wal-Mart, and take T-Mobile for a 1-month test, there'd be more pressure on AT&T to keep their prices sane.

maximumoverload7• 12 years ago

I admit, as an European, I see no point to this.

If you want a new SIM card, and you don't have a contract, just buy a new SIM card and put it in your phone / tablet.

If you have a long-term contract, this won't help you anyway.

Where is the catch? (Sorry if I am sounding stupid)

danilocampos• 12 years ago

The catch is Apple's supply chain management just got a ton simpler as they don't have to maintain separate SKUs by carrier for each iPad variant.

maximumoverload7• 12 years ago

Hm. In here, we don't have separate packages for separate carriers.

For all 3 major carriers, you just get your phone and in a separate envelope, you get your SIM card.

Ricapar• 12 years ago

Think about the user experience.

If switching, a user no longer has to wait on delivery of a small physical item from the new carrier. The user doesn't have to fiddle with a paperclip to pop out the SIM. (Average user could be scared to do so, or could scratch/bend the rather fragile SIM tray). It could all theoretically be done from a settings menu.

scholia5• 12 years ago

It also avoids the problem I have at the moment: three smartphones that take different sized SIMs ;-)

korzun2• 12 years ago

Walk in any providers store and they will do it for you, free of charge. Takes 2 minutes.

People who understand what a SIM like this does, will definitely understand how to replace SIM's. In my opinion anyways.

joenathan• 12 years ago

That sort of user would be afraid of the settings menu.

kalleboo7• 12 years ago

If switching, a user no longer has to wait on delivery of a small physical item from the new carrier

Where I'm from, SIM cards can be got in a huge dollar bin at the electronics store, or a vending machine at the airport.

The user doesn't have to fiddle with a paperclip to pop out the SIM

That's just Apple. They're solving a problem they invented themselves.

KJasper• 12 years ago

In the Netherlands you can even buy simcards in supermarkets, almost every supermarket is a virtual provider itself. If you go to a telecomshop they'll install it for you. Your describing something that's completely foreign to everyone over here.

jacalata3• 12 years ago

If you want a new SIM card, and you don't have a contract, just buy a new SIM card and put it in your phone / tablet.

My parents couldn't change a SIM card to save their lives - they couldn't open the phone to get the card out, they'd have trouble holding the micro SIM card if they did get it open, and they'd probably put it in backwards and just scratch the hell out of the contacts if they made it that far. Why should they have to? Oh, sure, they can go to a store. That works if switching networks is something you only want to do very occasionally with plenty of time to plan, but if you can make it easier why not? It's all software, why are we authenticating it by a tiny fiddly piece of plastic? I mean, I do this often enough myself that I carry a little Nokia pin for the tiny hole that triggers the SIM card slot to open on my Nexus, but why should I have to?

koliber• 12 years ago

Apple doing this does solve the issue for some people. However, as the parent poster mentioned, it is not as revolutionary as some make it out to be.

They are not solving a problem that has been unsolved before. Instead, they are providing a more streamlined and hassle-free solution.

maximumoverload7• 12 years ago

That's totally weird to me.

I don't want to say it from a position of superiority or anything, just different mobile culture, but in here, changing SIM cards is normal. It's what you do when you buy a new phone, because - as I said below - you get a SIM card separately, even when you buy it right with the operator with the contract.

But I guess it's a different culture

Nullabillity• 12 years ago

Same reason that you still keep credit cards around; security. When money becomes involved you don't want the device doing the authorization to have any way to be influenced by the one requesting it.

koyote• 12 years ago

It seems like a step back to me.

Want to change operator but the cheapest operator does not have a deal with Apple? Well you're out of luck!

Someone• 12 years ago

No, you just do what you had to do before: get a SIM-card from your operator, and put it in your iPhone.

veemjeem• 12 years ago

Definitely useful for those who travel. Put in 3 sims, one for HK, Thailand, and USA.

maximumoverload7• 12 years ago

True. Well, I have a dual-sim phone, so I keep one as mine, and the other one of the country where I am. So it's even simpler :) But I get what you are saying.

cortesoft• 12 years ago

That means you either have to physically go to a store or wait for one to be delivered. This way, I could change carriers at 2am on a whim, without having to wait for stores to open or a package to be delivered.

davb• 12 years ago

I really don't like the sound of this. The SIM card is the one thing that keeps mobile service relatively divorced from the hardware. I can keep the same phone but change SIM whenever it suits. I can also take change hardware and just move the SIM.

I don't need to ask my provider or hardware OEM for permission. I have control. In the Apple scenario I'm giving this up. I vaguely remember some wrangling with GSMA over this.

Ultimately, as with many Apple products, we'll be trading control for convenience.

milkshakes• 12 years ago

nobody says you have to use the Apple SIM. it's just a card. remove it and replace it if you do not like it.

hayksaakian2• 12 years ago

Correct me if im wrong:

To emphasize the point: the apple sim is two parts: a Literal Sim card, and separate software.

If you don't want it, take it out.

techsupporter• 12 years ago

But that's his point: What incentive does Apple (or any other mobile device manufacturer) have to make devices with user-replaceable SIMs?

kalleboo7• 12 years ago

Now, yes. I'm fine with that. But there were already rumblings years ago about them wanting to take the SIM out of the equation. Obviously that's their goal. As long as the GSMA doesn't allow that (since the GSM standard mandates a SIM card) then this is a fine solution.

silveira• 12 years ago

In Brazil people have been using things like these for about a decade. http://www.dx.com/p/triple-sim-cards-adapter-for-iphone-4-4s...

adventured2• 12 years ago

The concept has been around since the first full-featured cell phones became available.

Animats• 12 years ago

Why not have a phone with three SIM card slots? Avoid the kickback from the carrier to Apple.

moeedm• 12 years ago

A phone with 3 SIM card slots? You don't get Apple, do you?

drdaeman• 12 years ago

Why have SIM cards at all? What's the point in keeping credentials from the legitimate customer?

Store Ki directly on device. Modern phones have HSMs so key will be kept as secure as with a "real" SIM HSM, and bet phones could do the necessary crypto just fine.

Sure, a customer will be able to clone their own SIM card and share it with others, but I don't think that's a major issue. Logging onto the network with a cloned SIM is certainly preventable, and if you get kicked out every time other card clone logs in (and if that happens too frequently your account gets suspended altogether until you resolve the issue with a human support), sharing would be anything but desirable option.

X-Cubed• 12 years ago

The nice thing with SIMs is that if your battery is flat, or you put your phone through the washing machine, you can grab the card and throw it into a spare phone (or a friend's) and carry on.

If you have the Ki on the device, you're effectively going back to CDMA-style devices, whereby you need the carrier's assistance to move between handsets.

scholia5• 12 years ago

There a lots of dual-SIM phones and they've been available for a long time. http://www.phonearena.com/search/section/new-phones/term/dua...

But maybe not in the US...

seanmcdirmid3• 12 years ago

They are quite common in the developing world on low end phones. It is not a high-end feature, for sure.

akandiah• 12 years ago

The concept is called multi-IMSI. It's been possible to do this for a while now.

jlarocco• 12 years ago

How does this work?

I have an iPhone 5 with Sprint, and I thought I was more or less locked in because they used CDMA. I thought I would need a new phone if I wanted to switch to anything else.

Would love to know I've been wrong and can switch without buying out my contract and buying a phone...

jrochkind12• 12 years ago

That's why it's on the iPad and not the iPhone, you're right.

The latest generations of iPads work with nearly (? I think there was one US carrier that was left out, as well as Canada maybe, I forget) every carrier, which was somewhat easier to do because the iPad is data-only, and the carriers data wireless technologies diverge less.

abraham• 12 years ago

I just depends on what the phone hardware supports. The Nexus 6 e.g. has two hardware variations. The US variation supports T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all with the same device.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/10/15/the-nexus-6-will-com...

airencracken• 12 years ago

This is less about switching providers more easily and more about preventing users from modifying even the SIM card. Apple wants you to never open or modify the device in any way possible.

rbcgerard• 12 years ago

This will be great for people who have different mobile phone #'s in different countries if it evolves that far...

burn• 12 years ago

Wow this is a serious game changer, I was thinking about this the other day. I would be great to be able to turn off and on a sim card in your smartphone. So if you were using an iPhone and wanted to use your Android phone you just turned the iPhone sim off and used your android phone without having to call and de-activate it everytime.

kalleboo7• 12 years ago

Dual-SIM plans have been around since the 90's. You call a special number (* # whatever *) to toggle which one calls and SMS arrive to.

apayan• 12 years ago

Apple filed a patent on this Virtual SIM card in 2011. More info here: http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2011/11/apple-in...

The linked article suggests it's a method to save space in the hardware design so the SIM is not user serviceable. However, it also forces you to only buy data service from Apple approved carriers. Notice in the screen shot from the OP's article that Cricket or any of the more affordable MVNO's are not available as options.

This change is just as much about control over where you spend your carrier dollars (and, possibly, Apple getting a kickback) as it is about saving space.

bradddd• 12 years ago

People are missing the point that there isn't an actual sim card now, that you don't get the "apple" convenience AND the ability to pop in some random carrier's. It's convenience at the cost of flexibility.

bentcorner• 12 years ago

That's actually pretty terrible. I was thinking it was a SIM card with some Apple-designed logic in it. Not a baked-in SIM card. I wasn't really considering the device but now it's out of the question. Hopefully they don't do the same thing to their phones.

seanmcdirmid3• 12 years ago

When I was in Thailand, one carrier had the ability to co-opt my China unicom SIM and provide service there. I don't think my SIM was a soft one, I think they were actually co-opting the numbers!

ChuckMcM• 12 years ago

Interesting they don't mention Verizon. They do mention that participating carriers are subject to change though, so presumably they can add (or delete) carriers from the device.

deadweight3• 12 years ago

I've known about this for a while, though I don't remember my source. I seem to recall that it was first envisioned under Jobs, and AT&T started swinging punches when they caught a whiff. Although the source appears solid in hindsight, I chalked it up to a subterfuge project. Can anyone who has since left confirm this was the same initiative?

Evolved• 12 years ago

I pay $176/month for 3 lines with AT&T and all 3 lines still have the unlimited data @$30/month on them. I can buy 3 subsidized iphone 6s for $600+tax total ($200 each) or I can buy them each at $650. The price per month works out to about $27/month per phone. Will AT&T knock $27 off per month per phone if I buy them outright? The answer is no. I've talked to supervisor after supervisor about it and there is no discount if I upgrade and buy the phone outright up front. So I ask, where's the incentive?

AT&T is by no means perfect but given all the traveling I've done and my experiences with Verizon and T-Mobile (never tried Sprint) I've found that AT&T and Verizon are interchangeable and T-Mobile is not quite on the same level.

I know my rate plan hasn't become more expensive when I upgrade so how can I expect that it will become cheaper if I bring my own device?

jpkeisala• 12 years ago

I remember some years back Nokia made software SIM but it disappeared from the radar probably due Telcos pressure. Glad we get something to that direction finally.

BuildTheRobots• 12 years ago

I'm slightly amazed at the awed coverage this is getting.

As others have pointed out, multi-IMSI SIM cards are nothing new, though points to Apple for getting the network carriers on board and sharing keys.

Getting a replacement SIM card is not a problem (certainly not in the UK). Most of the networks will happily post you out one for free and you can buy them for virtually no money in all phone shops, most supermarkets, market stalls... everywhere -even in this tiny backwater technophobic village where I work.

My worry is that this is the start of a path down to devices having embedded SIM cards that are not user replaceable, or even have no SIM at all and just use the secure storage module built into the chipset. This seems like a bad hole to be heading down as it would directly take choice and power away from the end user.

hvidgaard• 12 years ago

That would be AMPS and NMT all over again. There was a very good reason we switched to simcards.

netcan• 12 years ago

I'm on the other side completely, I'm a little awed at the lack of coverage, and consumer demand for this.

I don't think this is a technological thing, it's an industry structure thing. Why do we even need SIMs? Obviously we need some way of deciding which phone should ring wen a call goes through the either, but why does it need to be a piece of plastic.

A simple software replacement for a SIM would open a lot ip. You could buy a $10 plan when you're in a different country for a week. If one of those company offering cheap international call sims could just sell you a software sim that doesn't require you to switch over everything.

The ability to shop selectively using different providers for different calls would be a profound change to the ecosystem. It'd have a lot of knock on effects.

Apple are good at bulling through changes like this. This could be the start. iPad only is a little weak though. I hope their reliance on carrier subsidies to sell phones doesn't impact Apple's willingness to push on this.

noselasd• 12 years ago

The physical SIM card is secure, it stores your private keys for identifying you, and you can't extract those keys without damaging the SIM card. At least if the SIM cards are produced to spec. Can you make it equally secure in software, or can I borrow your phone and "easily" clone you ?

hazmatter• 12 years ago

Actually this feature is not Apple exlusive.

I created a little project that allows remote usage of multiple SIM cards as a Software-SIM on MTK based Android phones. Forward the commands via TCP from a modified Baseband-firmware. This means you could e.g. have multiple SIM cards for your business trip without changing the card in your phone. Also malicious people could steal your SIM authentication if you use a vulnerable Android phone and use it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6_mZyQdEuU

https://github.com/shadowsim/shadowsim

kleptco• 12 years ago

This is about trading carrier lockin for apple lockin, that's all.

lurkinggrue• 12 years ago

But makes it harder to switch devices... Nice one Apple.

Apple Built A SIM Card That Lets You Switch Between AT&T, Sprint, And T-Mobile

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