Apple’s idea is that you can select your carrier and sign up for service from a menu on the device itself. There’s no need to order a new SIM card and physically change it.
You may remember we took a look at this possibility back in March when we asked Are carrier-free SIM cards on the way? That article was provoked by a development in the Netherlands, but it was really driven by the growth of the M2M industry related to cellular connectivity in devices where it’s not easy or practical to change a SIM and an embedded SIM is used instead.
A soft SIM in the consumer market is an entirely different kettle of fish. There are a lot of different potential motivations at work here, but let’s try and break down some of the arguments about why this might be good or bad from a consumer point of view.