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In September 2017, Apple released the Apple Watch Series 3, adding cellular functionality to the Apple Watch, which then led the trend of smartwatch cellularization. It is a pity that eSIM technology failed to land in China as scheduled at that time, and users of the cellular version were slow to use this core selling point that supports the difference in price of nearly a thousand dollars, and even Apple ultimately had to open up the cellular version of the watch for "unconditional refunds" only half a year after the watch was launched. In the subsequent release of Apple Watch Series 4, Apple actively communicated and coordinated with the relevant departments before the launch of the product, before officially opening the Apple Watch cellular version of the prelude in China.
But some time ago, a piece of news about eSIM once again attracted a lot of users' attention: on July 5, Beijing Mobile officially launched the eSIM One Dual-Terminal service, which supports the opening of eSIM One Dual-Terminal service for Apple Watch and other devices with a cellular network version.
In this regard, many mobile users in Beijing said, "I'm finally waiting for this day," but many of my friends who live in Guangdong are surprised that Beijing Mobile doesn't support eSIM until now. But from another perspective, even for eSIM for specific wearable devices, the operators have taken so long to prepare. So how many more years do we have to wait for eSIM for cell phones?
Let's start with why we need eSIM, or to put it another way, what eSIM can do for us. In fact, this question was answered by Apple at the 2018 iPhone launch event: as the first brand in the global cell phone industry to fully support eSIM, Apple explained the core concept of eSIM to mass consumers in several ways. eSIM, also known as embedded SIM, is essentially a SIM card that is embedded directly into the motherboard, and is itself part of the motherboard.
We know that the SIM is essentially a small memory chip, and the reason why a phone can be connected to the Internet after inserting the card is because the phone reads the configuration file inside the SIM card. So since the physical SIM is just a physical carrier for the profile, and ultimately needs to be read by the phone, why don't we just send the corresponding profile directly to the phone over the network (or some other digitized method)? Wouldn't that eliminate the need for a SIM card that's just a disposable flash drive?
That's right, eSIM was created to replace the inefficient traditional SIM card and SIM-related structures. While mobile SIM cards have gone through many iterations and have shrunk from the standard card size to the current 12.3 8.8mm, as a carrier of information, the nanoSIM card is still disproportionately sized to its internal chip.
And a physical SIM card means that the phone needs to be prepared to insert and remove the card from the SIM card, such as the card cage inside the phone and the circuitry to read the card, etc.
This means that the phone needs to be prepared to insert and remove the card from the phone. The SIM card is a small card, but with a cage, shield, and return mechanism, the SIM card still occupies a lot of space in the cell phone. The physical SIM card is often in poor contact after a long time of use or multiple insertions, and is far less durable than the eSIM card in terms of longevity.
But in addition to making SIM cards easier to use, eSIM actually improves the security of cell phones. You may remember last year when someone lost their property due to their SIM card being stolen after their phone was stolen.
eSIM also makes it easier to manage multiple cards. Simply by logging in to the corresponding operator's website, we can directly activate or deactivate the corresponding SIM card and services without having to turn off the phone and change the card to use the local network, which is much more convenient when traveling or on a business trip.
Since there are so many benefits of eSIM, and there are many carriers around the world that have launched eSIM services, why can't we use eSIM in countries that are advanced in the construction of mobile communications until now? For the topic of not opening up the cell phone eSIM in China, the discussion on the Internet generally believes that eSIM makes it easier to change the card, like CallKit once harmed the interests of the operators, so it was resisted by the operators.
But if you look at the issue from a deeper level, it's not hard to see that eSIM and the so-called 'carrier interests' are not really directly related. First of all, it's never been the case that a user is tied to a carrier by a dispensable SIM, but rather by a unique cell phone number that's tied to a number of services that are hard to replace. In 2021, when almost all accounts need to be tied to a cell phone number, no one is going to switch to a completely new phone number just because it's easier to get an eSIM.
This is especially true because the three major carriers in China officially launched their portability services many years ago, but the number of users who have done so to date is still a small minority. The opening of eSIM will affect the interests of the operators, which is even more impossible to say, we know that many users now have the habit of using "traffic card" and other secondary cards, if there is really "damage to the interests of the operators", it has nothing to do with whether the SIM card carrier is a physical card or an eSIM.
In my opinion, the root cause of the failure of eSIM on cell phones in China may come from two aspects: the operator's own reasons and mobile network regulations.
Let's take a look at the benefits of using eSIM. First of all, the rollout of eSIM means that operators can save on the cost of making physical SIM cards, especially short-term travel SIM cards for inbound users from abroad. But on the other hand, the widespread rollout of eSIM means that operators will need to increase the training of their frontline staff, and in the long run, the additional training will bring higher training costs to operators. This approach, which does not bring direct benefits to operators but significantly increases operating costs, is difficult to get support from operators.
Then there's the policy that operators can't let go of the need to allow users to use eSIM, starting with the issue of communications security. eSIM services in most overseas countries, whether it's to open a new number or to activate an old number, the entire process of writing a username and password as the main means of verification, and the identity of the applicant has not been verified. Even if eSIM joins real-name verification and live verification after landing in China, it is difficult for operators to ensure that the cell phone opened for related services has not been maliciously tampered with.
In the case of not being able to guarantee that the chain of opening the card business is absolutely safe and controllable, the eSIM business will become a huge gap in China's communications real-name system. Under the joint control of the card-breaking operation and the fight against telecom fraud, both carriers and cell phone brands don't want to be the eSIM "first one", which is also the reason why carriers are only open to wearable devices with one card and two terminals for eSIM at this stage.
Technically speaking, eSIM is not complicated, there are a lot of devices in our daily lives that use eSIM networking programs, such as the **** enjoy the bike, which is now everywhere, the smart locks on the embedded eSIM program. Since there is no principle problem with the technology. Considering the fact that operators have already opened up the process of purchasing and activating cell phone cards online, it proves that from a security point of view, operators also have the ability to open up the cell phone eSIM business under the control of security. Even if carriers still have concerns about opening up cell phone cards, it is entirely feasible to open up the eSIM business to a limited extent and allow users to convert their existing numbers into eSIMs.
From the perspective of the development of cell phone eSIM, the biggest difficulty in promoting eSIM should be that domestic operators do not have the need to switch to eSIM, and users do not have a rigid need for eSIM phones. If the brand concerned wants to promote the development of eSIM, it is best to start from their own hardware, by increasing the publicity of eSIM, so that users understand what convenience switching to eSIM can bring to users, and promote the development of eSIM from the demand side. Considering that many domestic cell phone brands are also developing their own virtual operator business, the promotion of eSIM can reduce the operating costs of virtual operators, so as to achieve multiple benefits.
After all, when eSIM is officially launched in China, we will no longer need to worry about whether to put a cell phone card or an SD card in the second slot.
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