Kill the cell phone card! Unicom's national debut eSIM, Apple and Huawei watches can make phone calls by raising their hands

When it comes to SIM cards, everyone is no stranger. Nowadays, what we call "phone card" refers to the SIM card on the cell phone, its full name is called "subscriber identity module", that is, "subscriber identity module It's called a "subscriber identity module," and its main function is to recognize the identity of the user and store data when they are communicating over the Internet.

But whether it's the big standard SIM card that was inserted in the old Nokia phone, or the small Nano SIM card that's now used in iPhones, there's a physical card, and the phone needs a paired SIM slot.

It's also a little bit of space that's redundant for handset makers, and inconvenience for consumers who have to change cards, subscriptions, and so on.

Therefore, in recent years, terminal manufacturers and telecom operators have been pushing the development and application of eSIM cards.

This technology has also been in the water for more than a year, and on March 29th, China Unicom announced that the pilot scope of the eSIM wearable device independent number business will be expanded to the whole country.

eSIM card, Embedded-SIM, unlike ordinary SIM card, it will be directly embedded in the device, through a predetermined program to verify the operator, the user can freely switch operators, without the need to carry out the complex cancellation of the number and then enter the network can be carried out on the replacement of the operator's network. This also means that users are no longer limited by the high cost of a particular consumer package.

In September 2017, Apple released Apple Watch 3, which supports eSIM functionality, and calling, texting and using apps like a cell phone became the highlight of the product. To this day, it is with the cooperation of carriers that the connection to the smart terminal is truly opened.

From the middle of last year, the three major carriers have also begun to pilot eSIM card services in some cities, the current nationwide eSIM service requires a new number, wearable devices independent number refers to a separate number, not tied to the original number. However, the good news is that Unicom is promoting the original number *** enjoy written into the eSIM, also known as the "one dual terminal".

At the same time, in addition to smart wearable devices, eSIM technology is more optimized in the field of Internet of Things, with the outbreak of the 5G era, a huge number of terminals need to be connected, which will certainly make eSIM have a greater use.

Some industry insiders believe that the emergence of this virtual SIM card is also a great challenge to operators. For operators, the traditional SIM card can greatly bind the user, many users will not be easy to change the card to find trouble; and eSIM card's convenience of multi-selectivity will break the shackles of the user, so that the user flow between operators.