Tablet connections
The tablet market is one that hasn’t been fully exploited by mobile operators and they remain products that are largely bought outside contracts as one-off purchases. There has been a big push in recent years from the networks to try to sell these products to the consumer, with mixed results. One of the major problems has been that customers have been buying tablets that don’t have any cellular connectivity and function purely through Wi-Fi. The ‘soft SIM’ presents a new route for networks to use to try to make the most of selling connections into these products. The fact that Apple is including a SIM that can be programmed or switched out will benefit all networks looking to sell connections into tablet devices. The wider adaptation of ‘soft SIM’ technology actually has the potential to benefit all networks, and many are looking to encourage the technology in the near future, as a Vodafone spokesperson told Mobile: ‘We are working with the wider industry and the GSMA to develop global standards for such interoperable SIMs and these are expected to be deployed in 2015.’