iPhone and SIM Cards ?

Submitted by jcost on Tue, 06/26/2007 - 08:54.
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Now that we have just about all of the iPhone details, more questions start to arise as we run out of things to speculate about.
First it was battery life, scratching, and then rate plans. Now I am receiving questions about whether or not it's going to be able to be used in Europe. 

It is a GSM phone, which with most GSM phones you can simply take your SIM card from phone to phone, and it keeps your phone number, address book, etc. Pretty simple, and frankly gives GSM networks and phones added value & edge.
I was looking over the iPhone, and I don't see ANY slot where a SIM card can be inserted. Usually it's around the battery area... but since the iPhone can't be opened, I was looking for a slot to put it into.
Look for yourself: iPhone 360 View 
I know many people are hoping to slip their SIM card right into the phone while they are at the Apple or AT&T store. I am going to speculate that this is just an option that isn't going to available on the iPhone. 
It's going to be a bummer for those that like the freedom to move from phone to phone, or especially travelers that routinely buy an inexpensive pre-paid sim card when traveling overseas. Perhaps the lower portion of the iPhone will pop open and the SIM will go in there. 
Lack of an accesible SIM card will also keep people from using the iPhone on other GSM networks in the USA, such as T-Mobile.
If using your own SIM card in the iPhone isn't supported... get ready for some backlash. iPhone sales are already popping up on Ebay for the iPhone, in a hopes that you can just pop in your existing SIM card and use the iPhone on existing GSM & other countries that have GSM networks. 

Update: What we know now is that there IS a SIM card in the iPhone, however, it is totally locked to AT&T network. Many hackers are working on the unlock, but at this point, it's not looking very good. You can take the iPhone SIM card and put it in a regular AT&T phone, but it won't transfer your address book, etc. The good news for European customers is that there is probably going to be a September launch of the iPhone with T-Mobile. As of this writing, this is speculation, but that will more than likely be the carrier of choice in that part of the world.


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I am friends with a Cingular
Submitted by travelinMan (not verified) on Tue, 06/26/2007 - 09:06.

I am friends with a Cingular engineer, and he told me that there will be no accessible SIM card on the iPhone. It's a downfall of the phone if you ask me. I go to London frequently with my Nokia phone and slip in a European SIM on my N95.
Works great.


dude, you are right! I
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 06/26/2007 - 11:06.

dude, you are right! I didn't see a sim card slot anywhere. People are going to be p*&&#d.


If you watch the keynote of
Submitted by Arjun Muralidharan (not verified) on Wed, 06/27/2007 - 02:21.

If you watch the keynote of MWSF or the iPhone guided tour, you would have noticed that the Sim card slot is at the top next to the headphone jack. It' a tray that pops out. It should open with a pencil, just like the battery slot of the Apple remote.

Even then, other Sim cards won't work in the iPhone because iPhone detects the carrier and works only with AT&T. This makes sense, because Apple want all of the features to work at all time, and stuff like visual voicemail won't work without the carrier supporting it.

Stop crying and just go buy it.


After looking closer at the
Submitted by jcost on Wed, 06/27/2007 - 04:46.

After looking closer at the iPhone Overview, I see that slot you mention. However, are you saying that it's a standard SIM chip and will be compatible as long as iPhone detects AT&T somehow?

Even with that, I think some people are going to be upset when they try it with another carrier.

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