You buy an iPhone with a special SIM card, and then you choose and activate your wireless carrier. According to news reports, Apple is working on such a potential game-changer for the European market.
First reported by Gigaom, the report quotes unnamed sources inside European telecommunications carriers, who say that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company is working with Gemalto, a SIM-card manufacturer, to develop the special card. The card would allow European customers to purchase the iPhone over the web or at a retailer, such as Apple’s stores, and make the phone operational through Apple.
Carriers Become Commodities?
Using such a SIM card, which normally carries subscriber ID information used by carriers, would cut carriers out of the co-marketing picture. Instead of getting an iPhone through, say, T-Mobile in Germany, users would buy the iPhone and then decide on the carrier. The carrier selection could be done entirely through Apple, either at a brick-and-mortar store or its App Store.
According to Gigaom, the ROM area of the SIM card has all the software needed for network security, and lacks only information specific to the carrier. The flash memory would be able to write the carrier data, and Gemalto would provide the infrastructure for provisioning service and the phone number.
If accurate, this kind of scenario could dramatically reduce a carrier’s role from selling the iPhone and a key customer-relationship partner to a commodity service based largely on price. It could also radically change the dynamic of subscriber loyalty, since the cost of moving from one carrier to another would not be tied to iPhone availability, but would be as simple as updating the SIM’s flash memory.
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