This week the concept of the E-SIM was announced.
An E-SIM will be a built in piece of hardware in each phone that will act in the same way as a subscriber identity module. It remains part of the phone, rather than the SIMs of today which you swap between handsets to change networks.
OFCOM said that this idea would be beneficial for customers as there would be no need for customers to wait for a new SIM to arrive - Networks could just "hand over" details from network to network, meaning that porting your number (whilst not quicker) would be easier as there are no SIM cards to post to customers.
Companies such as Apple have already stated that they are keen to implement this technology as soon as it is properly developed.
Naturally, Apple would love a phone without a SIM: Their built in network locks are hardly liked by customers, and this is yet another way that Apple can tie customers into a network and provide network exclusive handset opportunities - Remember when you had to join O2 if you wanted an iPhone?
Having a built in SIM facility might seem fine, but it's only a matter of time before "own network" handsets will only work with their parent network.
How is that beneficial to customers?
This is another reason that this will be adopted by the top end handsets, leaving the budget models stuck with SIMs.
Unless clear cut rules are defined by OFCOM, this new system seems open to abuse by the networks and won't provide an immediate, transparent benefit to customers.
