Apple wants the SIM cards to disappear and they are doing it bit by bit. The new iPad Air 2 and Mini 3 will have SIM that is reprogrammable, which can be used in any carrier. The user has the advantage of switching carrier that can give the most attractive plan, price and network coverage.
The consumer can do this through simple software alone. With this type of SIM, you will no longer need to remove the SIM every time you switch carriers. In the case of the iPad Air 2 and Mini 3, the Apple SIM is not permanent and can be removed if the user wishes so.
A SIM card is basically a tiny gold circuit plated card that identifies the subscriber and the carrier he or she belongs to. It is known that Apple is not particularly fond of the SIM and has exerted quite an effort to replace these devices that carriers have been using for a very long time.
This wonderful thing is known as "Apple SIM". To be successful however, all major carriers should agree to support the reprogrammable SIM. Based on Apple's track record, it is only a matter of time that all carriers will support the Apple SIM.
When the iPad was released on 2010, Apple introduced micro-SIM. It took a while but soon all carriers adopted the micro-SIM and later on, Apple again introduced the nano-SIM that powers the current iPads and iPhones.
So far, carriers who are supporting the Apple SIM are AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and even the British EE. Verizon however, has yet to declare if it is going to support the new SIM from Apple. In the end it may have no choice but to join the other carriers.
If Apple decides to use a reprogrammable SIM in their future mobile devices, carriers will have to support it or they will never profit from any Apple mobile product anymore.
Aside from forcing carriers to accept the new Apple SIM standards, this will also forced users to choose an iOS mobile device instead of phone running under Android.
