Apple just killed the SIM Card
We all know the SIM card. That small, little plastic card with metal contacts that lets us connect to our friends, family and the internet via our mobile phones. The same SIM which has gotten progressively smaller and smaller over the years, to the point where we almost always lose them. Well, you might not have to lose one any more, as Apple has quietly ushered out its next plan for the SIM card - and it's going to disappear.
Apple launched plenty of new products , but one little tidbit that escaped the stage is the Apple SIM. The brand new LTE-equipped iPad Air 2 packs in a software-based SIM card that means you don't have to fiddle with the tiny little plastic cards when you go from country to country, as all you need to do is sign up for your data service on the tablet itself - and use that same SIM no matter where you go.
It's an incredibly handy idea, especially if you travel. We imagine heading over to Spain and quickly signing up for a contract-less data plan while we're in the country, all to help save on costs - we all know using roaming data can cough up a hefty phone bill.
It's a bold move from Apple, but it could also signal the future: we're picturing Apple locking down future iPhones with its own Sim Tech, letting you pick which network you want to be with as soon as you turn the phone on, but it also provides its own set of problems.
See, Apple has only paired up with EE in the UK at the moment, along with Sprint, T-mobile and AT&T in the US - basically a handful of networks, so far. While other networks may be able to be picked via Apple SIM in the future, it could mean that Apple might lock out other networks if they don't want to play by its rules - and if networks want to offer future iPhones, they had better play nice.
Still, Apple has been at the forefront of SIM tech for some time now. Other Phone Makers followed suit when the iPad and iPhone 4 debuted with micro-SIM slots, and you only have to look at the original iPhone and its SIM-tray. While it sounded like a far-fetched way of popping your SIM card into your handset, other phone makers are now offering the same way of popping in your SIM, including HTC. Heck, even other phone makers are still playing catch up - this year's Samsung Galaxy S5 only has a micro-SIM slot while Apple introduced nano-SIMs with the iPhone 5.
If history has shown anything though, it looks like Apple's onto something with its own SIM tech - whether it's ready for mass consumption is yet to be seen, but we could have already glimpsed at the future of the SIM card. One without them.
