GigaOM reported lately that Apple was creating an iPhone with ‘one sIM card to rule them all’. Every american tech journos and even The Register took the suggestions from GigaOM and ran with it. Some thoughts I have from following this a bit:
If Telco’s would do this it would be stupid on their part. On the other hand the SIM card is considered a cost, so if they can get away with they would like it. But this cost is 4-5% of the total cost to acquire a customer, it’s not that huge. Telco’s want to offer the handset that everybody wants, but they want to keep the customer if he changes handsets. Guess what, he can just take a small piece out of the old put it in the new and whalla. Most countries who have operators subsidized handsets have no experience in this, they just deliver a complete package. If Apple wants to deliver a complete package, I understand that they have logistics to pre-fit the operator SIM etc… In any way shape or form, operators handing over control of this Subscriber Identification Module to somebody else are opening up a can of worms. Let alone the need to interoperate between all different operators, the Logica’s in this world and the Nokia Networks and Ericsson all have their own setups and customizations for very operator…
In short: maybe, but it will take more than a few years.
Now, why does Apple work with Gemalto, and why are some European Operators interested?
Gemalto is at the forefront of the SWP technology they make SIM cards that are next gen and are finally offering some breakthroughs in possibilities with domain security and their Global Platform Java Card OS. Security wise they have solved issues sharing the SIM between different parties, tech wise they have offered the possibility to do this and business wise, they want to be in that space. SWP is what eventually will enable your SIM card to be used in NFC setups, NFC beeing a buzz word here, you can just use your Phone to react on RFiD activations and have it communicate using a different channel than 3G, WiFi or Bluetooth.
You know, if operators don’t have the newfangled SIM and don’t want to pay for the replacement etc… The alternative would be to have the active element fixed inside the Phone, called the Secure Element. This is the way Nokia’s first NFC phones were done. They had an SE and no way to work with the SIM card.
Now here is the future for those systems. Phones will offer both, they will have an SE for when the operator does not want to upgrade change offer access to the SIM, but if the user has a SWP SIM, he will be able to use it and the services the provider offers.
Why are European operators in this? Because they are encouraged by Gemalto to do field tests and pilots and that they are looking to establish the business model.
Visa and MasterCard are at least the parties interested. The need a way to distribute an issued application on the device that is ‘controlled’ by the user and/or the operator. They would prefer to do one-stop shopping and make a deal with Gemalto/Apple to have that ability through the Secure Element.
But, can you imagine to change your Visa account when you change operator?