in September p>214, when apple released the iPad Air 2, it brought the concept of eSIM card (also known as "Apple SIM") to the actual product for the first time.
eSIM card actually embeds the traditional SIM card directly into the device chip, instead of being added to the device as an independent removable component. In addition, the eSIM card can reduce the space by up to 9% compared with the physical SIM card, because it has been embedded in the device during the manufacturing process, and users can remotely activate the connection. This practice will allow users to choose carrier packages more flexibly, or change carriers at any time without unlocking the equipment or buying new equipment.
however, eSIM card also brings many challenges to operators: first, the original procurement system and supply mode of SIM card will change. Secondly, there will be some corresponding changes in the management of SIM card full number resources. Third, the basic value-added services attached to the SIM card will be lost. Fourthly, the competition among operators is more intense. It may deploy many remote configuration management systems, which will increase the cost of its operation and maintenance services to a certain extent.
obviously, eSIM card will bring better user experience and more possibilities for terminal manufacturers, but it will weaken the control of operators on users, so eSIM has not been popularized.
three years later, apple's Apple SIM card has suffered many setbacks, only a few operators support it, and most consumers in China have never heard of it. China users are most exposed to SoftSIM services similar to Meizu, and they can only buy traffic overseas.
however, with the advent of the internet of things era and the popularity of wearable devices, eSIM cards that have been frustrated in smart phone terminals are welcoming spring.
application of eSIM card in car networking
actually, the proposal of esim service is related to car networking. Wang Yingzhou, sales director of customer solutions of G&D (China) Information Technology Co., Ltd., told (WeChat official account:) that the eSIM business was developed and commercialized on a large scale in the Internet of Vehicles at the earliest, and its technology was also tested in the field of Internet of Vehicles, but why the Internet of Vehicles?
First of all, the communication requirement of the car networking is actually a security requirement, and the embedded card is more secure. When the car has an accident and the owner can't operate, the car mainly communicates with the background, so eSIM plays a very key role. Obviously, the traditional plug-in card can't ensure the normal use of this business after a collision, so an embedded card (this kind of card integrated with the car machine) is very important.
Secondly, the cross-border import and export of vehicles requires the service of number management. From the point of view of the car factory, the cost of a car is very high, like a patch eSIM, its cost is irrelevant. However, when the car is to be exported to all parts of the world, if it is supposed to be a SIM card with a dead code number, then he needs to talk with the operators in various countries in advance, and produce a card with a dead code number, and then transport it to the production base and export it to all parts of the world after production, so this piece is very complicated, so from the perspective of the car factory, it is necessary for him to reduce the complexity of material management and process. Moreover, if this card is written with a dead number, then if it cannot be sold within a certain period of time after export, another market will need the same model, and it will have to open those cars, unload the cards inside and re-press the local cards. The cost of the whole process is very high, which may cost several hundred euros.
these factors have led many car dealers to use M2M service of eSIM first, that is to say, they use patch cards and carry out code number management services.
application of p>eSIM card in wearable devices
with the popularity of wearable devices, communication and networking are becoming a standard function of these intelligent hardware. Obviously, compared with cars and smart phones, the internal space of wearable devices is much more precious, especially under the premise that battery technology has not made a breakthrough, so eSIM is obviously a better choice. < P > It is understood that in March last year, GSMA announced the long-awaited specification for remote configuration of embedded SIM cards. This is an important milestone because it represents the first GSMA standardized version of the reprogrammable eSIM standard, which can be used for consumer electronic devices, such as smart watches, fitness equipment and tablets.
At present, Samsung's Gear S2, S3 and Huawei's HUAWEI Watch 2 all have eSIM card versions, but at present, domestic operators do not support them, which is also the prospect of domestic users in the field of Internet of Things.
Although it is still far away for mobile phone users to experience eSIM, domestic operators are actively deploying their own Internet of Things platforms by using eSIM cards. Because for operators, the Internet of Things is sensitive to cost and requires higher security and stability, the traditional SIM is difficult to meet the requirements of Internet of Things equipment, while the eSIM card is much more convenient.
in the production process, a white card is directly embedded in the IOT equipment, which contains the identities of different operators. Through a single management platform, the operator's security authentication is completed by means of secure over-the-air transmission (OTA). Users can directly select the operator's network where the equipment is located without plugging in the SIM card, and use local tariffs to reduce the cost of international roaming.
according to relevant persons of China mobile, China mobile takes 1 million users as a sample, and each eSIM can save about 4 yuan's cost, which will undoubtedly accelerate the development of the internet of things.
however, for eSIM internet of things, in addition to eSIM card, SM platform (Subscription Manager) is the focus of operation, and it has become the key to manage eSIM and change operators. It is reported that China Mobile and China Telecom have completed the construction of the eSIM card platform for the Internet of Things.
for the internet of things private network, because eSIM cards can be managed through remote programming, operators can set up a private network card writing platform for their own internet of things private network, and write cards in the air for all eSIM cards in the internet of things, even across operators, providing enterprise-oriented equipment management solutions.
facing the internet of things market, eSIM cards have broad market prospects in the future, including car networking, wearable devices, smart homes, smart homes, remote intelligent meter reading, wireless mobile POS machines, location tracking and so on. It is predicted that by 22, there will be 125 million eSIM connections in the world, with a total value of about $174 billion.
at present, many domestic and foreign companies have laid out eSIM cards. At the just-past "Second eSIM Technology and Innovation Summit", I was fortunate to interview Guotong, a domestic startup, and Jiede abroad.
According to Wang Yingzhou, the first SIM card in the world was made by G&D, and G&D also provided the world's first commercial platform for eSIM, and it will also be optimistic about the application of eSIM cards in the field of Internet of Things in the future.
Of course, besides big companies, startups have also entered the market, and Guotong Technology in Shanghai has seen the future opportunities of eSIM cards. At the just-concluded MWC217, China Telecom, together with Guotong and Longshang Technology, exhibited a narrow-band Internet of Things module, using SIM2free technology of Guotong Technology. In addition, Guotong announced that it has also cooperated with China Unicom and NXP to build a set of eSIM solutions.
at present, the main products of guotong include ezM2M equipment management platform, SIM2free virtual SIM technology and ezUICC connection management platform, which mainly connect terminal manufacturers and operators and provide turnkey solutions.
according to Shi chengbin, CEO of guotong technology, although the market for eSIM cards is still not large enough, and operators still have resistance to the application of eSIM cards in mobile phones, they are waiting for opportunities.
according to foreign media reports, ARM recently acquired Simulity Labs, an internet of things security company, for 11.7 million pounds. Simulity Labs is committed to the research in the field of SIM/eSIM technology, providing corresponding embedded systems and services, so that IOT devices can access the network safely.
son zhengyi, the founder of Softbank, said after acquiring ARM that the number of IOT devices will exceed 1 trillion in 2 years. These devices all need communication interconnection, and the current Internet of Things connection based on the cellular network of operators accounts for only 5% to 8%.
in the future, eSIM cards with various advantages are obviously promising.