RiPSIM Technologies is a startup — doing embedded SIM — that hopes to grab market share from the traditional SIM vendors. And its timing may be ripe, given that Apple’s new iPhone 14 is eSIM only.
Chris Jahr, the CEO and co-founder of RiPSIM, said the bigger, traditional SIM companies are Thales, Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), Idemia and Valid. Certified SIM companies are all listed on a GSMA site.
Jahr worked for G+D for about 20 years, but he recently left to start RiPSIM. He said the traditional SIM vendors have a manufacturing mindset that is not compatible with software-based eSIM systems. He said they also have not responded to carriers’ desire to have more control over their SIM platforms.
“I decided to start RiPSIM because we [G+D] were getting too many complaints from our large carrier customers,” said Jahr. “So, a small team and I got together and said ‘let’s give the carriers what they’re asking for.’ We’re liberating the wireless carriers from their dependency on the SIM vendors who are historically slow.”
He said G+D actually invented the eSIM in 2011, along with AT&T, for a machine-to-machine use case. Still, it’s taken more than 11 years for eSIM to go mainstream. “But with the iPhone 14 having removed the SIM tray, we’re going to see a pretty rapid acceleration,” said Jahr.
What’s taken so long?
Jahr explained that traditional vendors have longstanding processes to develop physical SIMs. Tech consultants gather requirements from carriers, and then they create profile templates, which are sent to factories. The process is time-consuming, and they’re following a similar process for eSIM. The only difference is that instead of loading the final software on a physical SIM, they’re loading it on a server for eSIM.
Carriers also want a business model more commensurate with digitalization where things are done in real-time. And they want the process to be cheaper and more within their own control. Currently, SIM vendors offer a hosted model where they manage data centers, and they don’t allow carriers to take the SIM capability on their own premises.
“The SIM industry effectively wasn’t listening,” said Jahr.
The future is eSIM
The news of Apple permanently removing the SIM card slot on the iPhone 14 for U.S. models is more than just a reclamation of precious real estate on the printed circuit board, said Jahr. It marks a turning point for the 30-year-old SIM industry, which is fraught with inefficiencies and technological stagnation. As the first major handset maker making this move, Apple will undoubtedly trigger all other major smartphone manufacturers to rapidly follow suit and accelerate eSIM technology adoption as the primary authentication token.
But there will probably be a learning curve for both operators and customers.
One technique for people to activate a device using eSIM is for them to go to a website, enroll for a phone service, get a QR code, snap a pic, which then fetches the eSIM. “That’s not a very elegant way to enroll,” said Jahr.
Carriers have recently begun providing an app for the process. The app retrieves the handset serial number, validates the phone and pings the billing server.
“It’s gotten pretty smooth now,” said Jahr. But there could still be kinks to work out.
Black Friday might be a day of reckoning for eSIM. “On big days like Black Friday, you don’t know how many eSIMs you’re going to get,” said Jahr. “I would say there could be a problem on Black Friday if those systems get hit with too many requests. That’ll be the day the unknown will happen.”