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by warning26 1377 days ago
The thing that strikes me as ridiculous is that in the US on CDMA carriers, there was the exact same thing as "eSIMs" for years. You had to beg and plead with your carrier to set up and provision your phone, since there was no physical SIM.

So for Apple to pitch this as "wow, it's a new system where instead of just putting in a sim card you have to grovel to your carrier to set up your phone", it hardly strikes me as better UX.
2 comments
cmelbye 1377 days ago
Have you tried eSIM? It’s dependent on carrier, of course, but it’s actually an incredible UX.

My partner lost his phone (and SIM) recently and I was able to transfer his T-Mobile line to a different iPhone in a few minutes using eSIM. It was totally automated using the T-Mobile website — enter the IMEI then scan a QR code with iPhone camera.

I saved a trip to the store to get a new SIM card and didn’t have to talk to a human.

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mr_toad 1377 days ago
What sort of security is there? How do they prevent anyone from registering your number to a new phone?
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cmelbye 1377 days ago
The usual: My account password, two factor auth, account security PIN. Additionally, an SMS is sent to the number that’s being transferred giving a chance to block (with a timeout to auto-approve if the device is lost).

I haven’t explored it but I would assume there is also an optional “high security mode” lock — something like requiring account changes to happen in-store with physical ID.

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ulfw 1377 days ago
How is having to type into an app your account password, do two factor auth, type account security PIN a better UX then pulling out a physical SIM and putting it into another phone?
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jonathantf2 1376 days ago
More secure at least, if my phone is lost or stolen they can't just take the SIM out and rack up international charges on my account, etc.
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cmelbye 1376 days ago
Because I didn't have a physical SIM. The phone was lost.
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musictubes 1377 days ago
Carriers have been fighting sims for years because it makes it too easy to switch carriers. I think TMobile is the first one out of the gate to do this. You can download their app, try the service for a month or two by activating the esaim. If you like it, you can transfer your service right from the app.

Not having to talk to sales reps or go to stores is a big win for customers. Granted, this is mostly hypothetical at this point but it is coming.

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