| I think they are still a thing because of the following: 1) One SIMs are a bit harder to tamper with than the OS of a phone which I am assuming would be the alternative to a SIM card i.e storing the same information on NAND flash accessible to the OS. SIMs have some threshold(it used to be 3) of unsuccessful attempts to read the card. A lock is activated and can only be unlocked entering the unlock code. 2) Carriers can talk directly to the SIM - A "SIM" is basically a Java applet that runs on UICC(Universal Integrated Circuit Card - the smart card itself.) I think a lot of people don't know that SIMs run Java - well Java Card. This mean that they can remotely lock a SIM card to prevent it from further accessing their network. If someone stole my phone or even just my SIM card I could call my carrier and they could lock the SIM remotely and consequently unlock it. They can also use the SIM to push new PRLs - preferred roaming lists. This is generally called OTA or over the air provisioning. 3)Convenience, if I use a pre-paid services with an MVNO or travel to another country and buy a pre-paid SIM while on holiday, I don't need to do anything else except insert the new SIM and power on the phone. What would the non-SIM card alternative look like? Its hard to imagine it being easier. 4)Carrier-locked phones, such as what you get when you are under contract to a carrier. The way phones are locked is by having the phone only accept SIMs from the carriers network. An unlocked phone will accept a SIM from any carriers network. If anyone is interested this DEFCON presentation - "The Secret Life of SIM Cards", is pretty interesting: https://www.defcon.org/images/defcon-21/dc-21-presentations/... |