SIMless Connections

There was a rumor recently about Apple trying to force a concept of a software SIM card in the new iPhone design. This concept was reportedly rejected by the GSMA, the organization representing carriers, or mobile network operators (MNOs) worldwide.

SIM card is considered the central asset of every MNO. Technically it contains some cryptographic information that allows a GSM phone to identify itself and register on the network. No SIM equals no access. And of course SIM determines the associated account, whether it is prepaid or postpaid and how much credit it has and what services it can use and so on. But after 20 or more years the SIM becomes more and more obsolete.

Take a look at just about any Web service you pay for. Like Skype for example. The email address and password usually determine the associated account. How much credit it has and what services it can use and so on. Like SIM, but nothing physical.

SIM cards used to be associated with phone numbers. But the phone numbers are going to be decoupled from the current operators. I explained this in my May 2010 post: http://headworx.slupik.com/2010/05/will-mnos-lose-their-voice-customers.html. There will be separate companies operating the wireless transmission networks (towers and backhaul). There will be mobile data service providers. And there will be virtual voice providers, whose services will work over just about any data connection (remember: 4G/LTE networks are just data networks, voice is virtual, on top). So in future SIM will no longer be equal to your mobile phone number. It will just authenticate your terminal (handset) against the network, allowing the network to offer data connection.

This trend is even more clear when we consider data - only devices. Laptops, netbooks, and tablets that will flood us sometime in Spring 2011, when Google releases the Android 3.0 codenamed Honeycomb. The tablets will be in two flavors. WiFi-only (no SIM) and 3/4G+WiFi (with SIM). But when you look at this from a little more distant perspective, this approach does not make sense. From a connected data tablet perspective, what is the difference between a local WiFi provider (say hotel or airport) and a local 3G/4G provider? There is none...

It comes down to my point today: we do not want and do not need physical SIM cards for mobile data. Our mobile data devices do not have (nor need) associated mobile numbers. They just need dumb data pipes. So what is the point of forcing users to shop for physical SIMs? At the airport I can sign on to just about any WiFi network from my device. Why isn't it possible with 3G/4G networks? Shouldn't the process be as seamless (or SIMless) as with WiFi?

This is the opportunity knocking at the door for MNO's. The path for potential customers to spend money should be as short and straightforward as possible. So whenever they have hardware capable of picking up the signal, they should be able to instantly become paying subscribers. Today, instead, they are sent to shopping malls and Internet shops to look for appropriate physical SIMs. Is this really the way business should be done?