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Hold on, so there's possible collusion to stop the standard happening? And now a govt investigation of that possible collusion is ... stopping the standard hap

Hold on, so there's possible collusion to stop the standard happening? And now a govt investigation of that possible collusion is ... stopping the standard happening?

StudentStuff 9y ago
More like collusion to fundamentally break the standard before it is allowed to flourish. What if you had a power plug that worked with outlets anywhere, except if you plugged it in in certain businesses, whereby they only were usable at said business, and were a brick otherwise. This is what AT&T has been doing with Apple's eSIMs.
- bogomipz 9y ago
  >"This is what AT&T has been doing with Apple's eSIMs." So you can never take that Apple watch with the eSIM to a non AT&T network? There is no unlock?
IshKebab 9y ago
Presumably it is on hold because they are being accused of making the standard terrible. They definitely shouldn't plow on with a terrible standard. I guess the dispute would revolve around carrier locking. E.g. imagine if you bought an unlocked phone but eSIM gave carriers the ability to remotely lock it to their network.
- jacknews 9y ago
  Yes this makes most sense, the article isn't clear
lozenge 9y ago
AT&T want the ability to lock eSIMs to be standardised, so that you can't use it on another network. But eSIMs are permanently embedded into phones, and phones getting thinner means they soon won't have slots for physical SIMs. (Apart from the charger, it's already the last port on many phones.) So it would effectively lock the entire device, which is incredibly wasteful. The FTC sees this as consumer unfriendly and potentially collusive and anti competitive in how it's being pursued. If GSMA continues, then AT&T will have to play it safe by backing down from their position. So, they are pausing the entire process. If the FTC turns out to have no teeth, then AT&T will be able to pursue locking eSIMs again.
droopybuns 9y ago
Trade bodies like the GSMA are constantly at risk of collusion accusations. Most meetings on these types of bodies start with reminders about the anti trust rules and what types of discussion are not allowed. It isn’t surprising that they would stop meetings given the fact that an investigation seems to be in play. Not a reliable signal of bad behavior. It is probably simple pragmatism.

Hold on, so there's possible collusion to stop the standard happening? And now a govt investigation of that possible collusion is ... stopping the standard happening?

StudentStuff 9y ago

More like collusion to fundamentally break the standard before it is allowed to flourish. What if you had a power plug that worked with outlets anywhere, except if you plugged it in in certain businesses, whereby they only were usable at said business, and were a brick otherwise. This is what AT&T has been doing with Apple's eSIMs.

bogomipz 9y ago
>"This is what AT&T has been doing with Apple's eSIMs." So you can never take that Apple watch with the eSIM to a non AT&T network? There is no unlock?

IshKebab 9y ago

Presumably it is on hold because they are being accused of making the standard terrible. They definitely shouldn't plow on with a terrible standard. I guess the dispute would revolve around carrier locking. E.g. imagine if you bought an unlocked phone but eSIM gave carriers the ability to remotely lock it to their network.

jacknews 9y ago
Yes this makes most sense, the article isn't clear

lozenge 9y ago

AT&T want the ability to lock eSIMs to be standardised, so that you can't use it on another network. But eSIMs are permanently embedded into phones, and phones getting thinner means they soon won't have slots for physical SIMs. (Apart from the charger, it's already the last port on many phones.) So it would effectively lock the entire device, which is incredibly wasteful. The FTC sees this as consumer unfriendly and potentially collusive and anti competitive in how it's being pursued. If GSMA continues, then AT&T will have to play it safe by backing down from their position. So, they are pausing the entire process. If the FTC turns out to have no teeth, then AT&T will be able to pursue locking eSIMs again.

droopybuns 9y ago

Trade bodies like the GSMA are constantly at risk of collusion accusations. Most meetings on these types of bodies start with reminders about the anti trust rules and what types of discussion are not allowed. It isn’t surprising that they would stop meetings given the fact that an investigation seems to be in play. Not a reliable signal of bad behavior. It is probably simple pragmatism.