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There's no shortage of analysis explaining how being able to switch carriers with the press of a button would lead carriers to offer more competitive deals to c

by Steko 12y ago

There's no shortage of analysis explaining how being able to switch carriers with the press of a button would lead carriers to offer more competitive deals to consumers.

dingaling 12y ago
... or alternatively entrench the pricing power of the big carriers by freezing-out upstarts. If you can only activate your SIM with A, B or C they can present a 'price war' face whilst monopolising the market. Why would A undercut B by anything more than pennies in such a captive market? We see this in the UK with the Big Three ISPs offering increasingly silly incentives like supermarket shopping vouchers to poach customers from one another, but not actually growing their shared subscriber base or offering better products.
- Someone 12y ago
  But you can still take out that SIM and put in one you got from your provider (or bought as a prepaid card in one of a zillion of places), can you? If not, how does Apple plan to sell these phones in Europe? I knew the USA was bad in this respect years ago, but from this thread, I get the impression that the USA _still_ lives in the middle ages, as far as mobile phone subscriptions go.
sigmar 12y ago
It only supports certain carriers and now we learn that carriers can lock it upon activation. I'd rather there be a small independant card that can easily be hot swapped to allow access to different carriers. Oh wait
rosser 12y ago
As true as that may be, it's not exactly a "source" for your previous claim.
- Steko 12y ago
  I'm not claiming a source, I'm pointing out the obvious implications of their actions in the space. The original ipad data plan isn't something AT&T thought up, it's something Steve forced on them and it's still the closest thing we have to dumb pipes. IMessage was another end run around carrier cash cows. Multi-SIM is another step. And when this choice Sim goes global that will be another bullshit carrier ripoff we can wave goodbye to.

by Steko 12y ago

There's no shortage of analysis explaining how being able to switch carriers with the press of a button would lead carriers to offer more competitive deals to consumers.

dingaling 12y ago

... or alternatively entrench the pricing power of the big carriers by freezing-out upstarts. If you can only activate your SIM with A, B or C they can present a 'price war' face whilst monopolising the market. Why would A undercut B by anything more than pennies in such a captive market? We see this in the UK with the Big Three ISPs offering increasingly silly incentives like supermarket shopping vouchers to poach customers from one another, but not actually growing their shared subscriber base or offering better products.

Someone 12y ago
But you can still take out that SIM and put in one you got from your provider (or bought as a prepaid card in one of a zillion of places), can you? If not, how does Apple plan to sell these phones in Europe? I knew the USA was bad in this respect years ago, but from this thread, I get the impression that the USA _still_ lives in the middle ages, as far as mobile phone subscriptions go.

sigmar 12y ago

It only supports certain carriers and now we learn that carriers can lock it upon activation. I'd rather there be a small independant card that can easily be hot swapped to allow access to different carriers. Oh wait

rosser 12y ago

As true as that may be, it's not exactly a "source" for your previous claim.

Steko 12y ago
I'm not claiming a source, I'm pointing out the obvious implications of their actions in the space. The original ipad data plan isn't something AT&T thought up, it's something Steve forced on them and it's still the closest thing we have to dumb pipes. IMessage was another end run around carrier cash cows. Multi-SIM is another step. And when this choice Sim goes global that will be another bullshit carrier ripoff we can wave goodbye to.