[maximumoverload]

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)

[Ricapar]

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.

[korzun]

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.

[nknighthb]

What is... "store"?

In the 6+ years I spent in Silicon Valley, I entered a Walgreens every three months to pick up a prescription, and probably could've dispensed with that if I'd taken half an hour to figure out my provider's online thing.

Other than that and the rare emergency, everything else (yes, including groceries) was ordered online and delivered to my home. The only businesses I routinely entered were my workplace and restaurants.

Why should I have to go to some stupid store to get a SIM card when I could just switch online in 30 seconds?

[kalleboo]

> Why should I have to go to some stupid store to get a SIM card when I could just switch online in 30 seconds?

Because online you'll be limited to whoever Apple has a deal with. SIM cards are about freedom. Sure, an online infrastructure and the laws to force an implementation of it are technically simple, and could be done, but with thousands of carriers in 200 countries, it's never going to be all-encompassing. SIM cards being mandated in the GSM standard in 1991 was amazingly forward-thinking and we have a lot to thank for it today.

[danielrhodes]

Any piece of hardware which is replaced by software is a win for consumers.

In this case, maybe the carrier is gated by Apple. However that's a big step beyond a carrier locked phone at the hardware level like it used to be.

[kalleboo]

> Any piece of hardware which is replaced by software is a win for consumers.

Replacing physical books and optical media with online DRM was a huge loss for consumers. Being able to remotely revoke the right to use something you bought is incredibly onerous.

> However that's a big step beyond a carrier locked phone at the hardware level like it used to be

"like it used to be"? Unlocked phones have always been easily available.

[nknighthb]

That's not a reason to keep a stupid, obsolete design around. It's a reason to fix the problem correctly with a modern public key infrastructure.

[kalleboo]

I would love that, but it's a utopian vision. Apple will create a closed system only for them. Google will create a separate system. Firefox OS or any future competitors will be screwed over.

[korzun]

You sound like a peasant. I have a Taskrabbit that goes online for me to switch my SIM.

[brianpan]

Most people don't even understand what a SIM is, let alone how to replace one. They probably can find their Settings app though.

[josteink]

In Europe, everyone I know who has a cellphone knows what a SIM is (even grannies), and they know this is the item connecting their phone to their service subscription.

I guess to people from the US this may seem "foreign", but it's really simple and it really works.

[brianpan]

Exactly, I was speaking from a US perspective. The historical reason for this is in Europe, interoperability as you travel between countries was a priority, so a single European protocol (GSM) with a removable, interchangeable SIM developed.

In America, competition/free market was the priority so the result was many non-compatible digital protocols (CDMA/TDMA/Nextel/GSM). In the US, if you're switching carriers, you are probably throwing away your phone and getting a new (subsidized) one from your new carrier. Even if you are moving from a GSM to another GSM carrier, because of the subsidies the old SIM is probably locked to your old carrier and it might be cheaper to get a new, subsidized one anyway.

[sriramiyer]

This is silly. I'm an Indian (country with largest penetration of mobile phones, primarily GSM) and I can reasonably say that a large majority of the population knows exactly what a SIM card is.

Phones here are not appliances that you buy from the carrier. The device and the service are properly decoupled enough that people know the difference.

[mrweasel]

I would argue that most people inserted the SIM in their phone themselfs. People switch carries all the time and most carries don't have stores, so who would put in the SIM if the customer doesn't?

If you buy the phone and SIM on the carries website, you don't get the SIM and phone in separate packages, so again who would insert the SIM if not the customer?

Changing carries from the settings app would most likely be more confusing. I think some people would be worried if the see the logo of a carrier other than their own in the settings menu.

[kalleboo]

> 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.

[scholia]

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

[francuzz]

Yes, but this problem was created mainly by Apple itself when they "standardised" nano-SIM

[scholia]

This is true. The standard sim, when clipped, works in two of my smartphones....

[KJasper]

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.

[eyko]

This would potentially allow you to change providers (O2->3, Vodafone->giffgaff) without needing to go to any physical shops. Just get a new contract online, apply it to your sim card. You get to also keep your number without having to fiddle with PAC codes and activation timeframes. I guess.

[joenathan]

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

[jacalata]

> 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?

[maximumoverload]

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

[malyk]

Different cultures for sure.

I've had 5 mobile phones...some candybar in the early 00's, a flip phone in the mid 00's, and iphone 3g, 4s, and now 6. I've never even /seen/ a sim card in person. It's a piece of tech that I shouldn't have to every even know exists. I just want my phone to work. I shouldn't have to play around with a microscopic piece of plastic and metal for that to happen.

[untog]

It's a piece of tech that I shouldn't have to every even know exists. I just want my phone to work.

I see it the opposite way. Every phone should have a part in it that is removable and replaceable and ensures that you can do whatever you want with your device. I was staggered when I found out that some US CDMA devices are literally unusable without the permission of the company you originally had service with.

[sanderjd]

Having a replaceable part is not the only way to ensure you can do whatever you want with your device! It is possible to ensure that with a universal SIM purely through software. That this isn't the current situation doesn't mean it isn't possible. I don't have to replace a tiny little piece of plastic in my computer to install Linux instead of Windows or to connect to wifi using Comcast instead of Qwest.

[maximumoverload]

Hm. Interesting.

If you want to buy a new phone and keep your number.... what do you do?

Well I guess you can just ask in the store to move it to the new one, that's true. It's just... strange.

[rblatz]

You don't ask, they hand you a phone and it just works.

[untog]

Unless you want to buy an unlocked phone, etc. etc.

[maximumoverload]

Well in that case you have to have it tied with your name, so it will only work for contracts; and only about half of the people here are on contracts.

[jacalata]

I'd be willing to bet that most people wherever you're from also can't change their own SIM and have the store employees do it (which is how it worked when I bought a SIM card in both London and Seattle in the last two months).

[userbinator]

Southeast Asia? That's one area where there appears to be little, if any, technophobia around SIM cards; and in some of them, on average each person has more than one mobile phone. Multi-SIM devices are also extremely common there.

[Nullabillity]

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.

[koliber]

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.

[jacalata]

Isn't that exactly what they did when they released the original iPhone? Isn't that basically their entire existence?

[danilocampos]

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.

[maximumoverload]

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.

[GHFigs]

In the US, major carriers Verizon and Sprint have operated CDMA-based networks whose devices did not use SIM cards. I think it was the iPhone 4 that Apple once shipped 3 different versions of in the US: AT&T (GSM), Verizon (one set of CDMA bands), and Sprint (another set of CDMA bands).

[emkman]

But did you notice that Sprint is supported in this announcement? It is because LTE does in fact use a SIM, even on the carriers that rely on CDMA for voice. Fortunately for the iPad, it has no voice requirement.

In reality, there is the technical means to support this on ANY carrier. You just set the IMSI or ESN in software on the microprocessor and then hit an API at the carrier telling them to pair X device with Y unique ID. The difference now is that no one before Apple has had the weight to get the carriers to go along with this, since it encourages modularity and discourages device and carrier lock in.

[dmishe]

And that's why you get a SIM pick tool.

In US you just get a phone with everything pre installed and sim tool :). So this thing does make it easier for Apple and a bit more convenient for users

[dmishe]

correction: pre installed and NO sim tool

[fps]

what did you do prior to the advent of 10-band GSM radios?

I'm in the US and I've almost always bought cheap unlocked phones and SIM cards, but until recently I've had to hunt around to get the right variant of a phone for my preferred provider. Eg. T-Mobile uses 1700/1900/2100Mhz, AT&T uses 700/850/1700/2300.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_frequencies#United_Sta...

The latest iPhones and some other phones now have radios that cover all frequencies, but those radios are expensive and typically only come on phones that cost more than $700.

[baddox]

When I bought my iPad 2, they had separate iPad boxes for Verizon and AT&T. I haven't had a cellular tablet since then.

[sliverstorm]

Apple is all about the "just works". "Some assembly required" is very un-Apple.

[maximumoverload]

Here, you got a separate SIM even with Apple phones. It's just how it's done.

The only toy I remember not having a separate SIM card was Amazon Kindle (the e-ink reader), and that's because they try to hide that the SIM is even there (and it's kind of weird).

[sliverstorm]

Sure, there was no other choice. I'm just saying that if anybody was going to introduce a universal SIM in the USA, I would expect it to be Apple, and for exactly the reasons I described :)

[koyote]

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]

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

[_lce0]

not everyone owns an iphone, also here we are talking about another apple device

[veemjeem]

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

[maximumoverload]

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]

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.