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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 /

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)

danilocampos 12y ago
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 12y ago
  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.
  - dmishe 12y ago
    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 12y ago
      correction: pre installed and NO sim tool
  - baddox 12y ago
    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 12y ago
    Apple is all about the "just works". "Some assembly required" is very un-Apple.
    - maximumoverload 12y ago
      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 12y ago
        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 :)
  - GHFigs 12y ago
    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 12y ago
      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.
  - fps 12y ago
    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_States_Carrier_Frequency_Use 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.
Ricapar 12y ago
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.
- scholia 12y ago
  It also avoids the problem I have at the moment: three smartphones that take different sized SIMs ;-)
  - francuzz 12y ago
    Yes, but this problem was created mainly by Apple itself when they "standardised" nano-SIM
    - scholia 12y ago
      This is true. The standard sim, when clipped, works in two of my smartphones....
- korzun 12y ago
  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.
  - brianpan 12y ago
    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 12y ago
      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.
jacalata 12y ago
> 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?
- koliber 12y ago
  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 12y ago
    Isn't that exactly what they did when they released the original iPhone? Isn't that basically their entire existence?
- maximumoverload 12y ago
  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
  - jacalata 12y ago
    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).
koyote 12y ago
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 12y ago
  No, you just do what you had to do before: get a SIM-card from your operator, and put it in your iPhone.
  - _lce0 12y ago
    not everyone owns an iphone, also here we are talking about another apple device
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
veemjeem 12y ago
Definitely useful for those who travel. Put in 3 sims, one for HK, Thailand, and USA.
- maximumoverload 12y ago
  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 12y ago
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.

danilocampos 12y ago

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 12y ago
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.
- dmishe 12y ago
  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 12y ago
    correction: pre installed and NO sim tool
- baddox 12y ago
  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 12y ago
  Apple is all about the "just works". "Some assembly required" is very un-Apple.
  - maximumoverload 12y ago
    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 12y ago
      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 :)
- GHFigs 12y ago
  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 12y ago
    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.
- fps 12y ago
  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_States_Carrier_Frequency_Use 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.

Ricapar 12y ago

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.

scholia 12y ago
It also avoids the problem I have at the moment: three smartphones that take different sized SIMs ;-)
- francuzz 12y ago
  Yes, but this problem was created mainly by Apple itself when they "standardised" nano-SIM
  - scholia 12y ago
    This is true. The standard sim, when clipped, works in two of my smartphones....
korzun 12y ago
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.
- brianpan 12y ago
  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 12y ago
    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.

jacalata 12y ago

> 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?

koliber 12y ago
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 12y ago
  Isn't that exactly what they did when they released the original iPhone? Isn't that basically their entire existence?
maximumoverload 12y ago
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
- jacalata 12y ago
  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).

koyote 12y ago

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 12y ago
No, you just do what you had to do before: get a SIM-card from your operator, and put it in your iPhone.
- _lce0 12y ago
  not everyone owns an iphone, also here we are talking about another apple device
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

veemjeem 12y ago

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

maximumoverload 12y ago
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 12y ago

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.