| After Apple "broke the back" of the telco monopoly with their 2007 5-year deal with AT&T[0] it's been a slow progression in North America to the European-style subscriber-owned phones that are compatible across most networks. I, and many others were surprised at that deal because, up to that point, ppl had essentially carrier-owned phones and long contracts that locked subs (subscribers) to their network. This deal would allow ppl to install any software from the app store without telco approval. Telcos see the SIM card as their last beachhead. They are looking for at least 2 revue streams from this NFC SE (Secure Element)[1] real estate: 1 Identity verification - Telcos rent "space" on the SE on which you store health cards, passports, driver's licenses, etc.
2 Cards - Telcos rent "space" on which you store credit, gift, debit cards. Carriers and Issuers (the bank that issues your credit card) are now fighting over that potential revenue stream (spoiler: it's tiny) while Apple has gone and deployed it with Apple Watch et al and is making a cut of the transaction fee. In contrast, the transaction fee is a huge stream however one can imagine the fun of negotiating a contract between all the parties involved (likely all multibillion dollar companies with teams of lawyers). Apple had tried to push a software SIM (containing a SE) but the carriers, from their POV, rightly and vigorously fought and will continue to fight against that[2]. Google is also trying with Android Wallet/Pay/... I suspect Apple will eventually use the same "wedge" approach with one of the US carriers and the others will fall in line. [0] https://www.engadget.com/2010/05/10/confirmed-apple-and-atan...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_field_communication#Appli...
[2] http://www.thememo.com/2015/07/30/five-years-on-apples-battl... |