Any time someone tries to bypass the carriers, we take notice. We hate them that much. While it isn’t easy to do, Apple’s trying its darndest to eliminate the carriers from the activation process for iPhones.
Apple and Gemalto have allegedly created a SIM card that will be integrated into the iPhone, reducing the role of the carrier during the iPhone purchasing process.
It’s been tried before by Google, but they failed. Creating an easy way to buy a handset, without having to do all kinds of crazy setup in store just to get phones to work on a network, would eliminate a huge drain on resources in Apple stores.
GigaOm is reporting that it will be an embedded chip with an upgradeable flash component and ROM. The ROM will contain security information, and the flash would be carrier related data that would have to be retrieved from the carriers directly through an update. It could theoretically be carried out in an App, or through iTunes during a typical first sync connection.
It looks like Apple’s getting a little sick of the carriers and their draconian policies. Should this rumour turn out to be true, it would make it increasingly easy to switch carriers at any point.
That’s something we would easily support.
Article Via GigaOm