Cellular iPads were available for contract from various service providers up till now. But with Apple SIM, Apple aims to free their customers from the hands of the carriers. Without getting too technical, it is an embedded SIM that is not fixed for any carrier and you can switch carriers according to your likings.
All about Apple SIM
The traditional way of carrier subsidy on otherwise expensive Apple devices works as follows – You buy the device at a hugely subsidized rate but in turn commit to a 1 or 2 year contract for any carrier with a fixed voice and data plan. Thus until your plan expires, switching carriers is not possible without changing the device all together.
However, Apple aims to change this and in a good way. It is following an embedded SIM approach – where in your SIM is independent of any carrier.
You can switch carrier if you don’t like your present one or due to other reason without getting a new device or swapping the SIM – the same SIM works for any network. The specification for such an approach to SIM existed before but Apple is the first to bring it to the market.
What it means to Apple?
As always, Apple with embedded SIM as set itself apart from the competition. Firstly, Apple is able to show its might over other OEMs – only Apple has the power to convince the biggest carriers from US like AT&T, Sprint, T Mobile and EE in the UK to allow such switching of SIM without actually doing it.
Further, by releasing it only for tablets, it is bound to meet certain amount of success. iPhone users traditionally use data plans anyway but tablet PC users tend to avoid cellular data connection all together. Thus rather than being harmful for the carriers, it represents a better opportunity to promote data plans to customers. Thus, it is a win-win situation for both.
The Future
Apple SIM is not free from its fair share of problems. First and foremost, for smartphones carriers will vehemently oppose it as it involves no contract and users can switch carriers at any point. Secondly, making a single SIM work with 20 different LTE bands across the worlds and bringing all carriers to support it will not be easy.
The software and hardware support is going to have to improve if Apple wants to see larger support for embedded SIM. With this release, Apple not only shows its innovation but also its power. Further, such embedded SIM technology can be utilized to control large-scale distributed devices as well over data networks. Expect a wider rollout of this feature from Apple in near future.
