Chris Velasco — mobile enthusiast and writer who studied English and marketing at Rutgers University. Once upon a time he was a News intern for MobileCrunch, and between them, he worked in wireless sales at best buy. After graduation, he returned to the new TechCrunch for mobile as a full-time writer. He counts the advertising works, musical theater ... ? Read More
According to the patent filing excavated AppleInsider, Apple may be looking for their clients with a new kind of control: the control over their current carrier. (Longwindedly) entitled "method and apparatus for the use of wireless communications device with multiple providers, it describes how to set the phone to locally store multiple different carrier configuration profiles and allow users to replace them on a whim.
Apple outlines several embodiment of the system, but the most compelling are the first two. Long story short, they describe how you can change the plan, and even carrier (equipment wish) directly from your phone. The device can store settings for various price plan as ID values: once you choose one of these values, correct the airline configuration. Imagine provides options for T-Mobile and AT&T — if you select the identifier for the plan of 450 minutes AT&T, the phone will automatically be set to AT&T.
Patent even takes the concept further by introducing a system of ranking, in which the combination of identifiers will determine which carrier config is enabled. Returning to the previous example, if you decide that you would like a few minutes and Cap high data, the device may select any plan will best fit and be configured for that carrier.
Another incarnation of the system deals with international use. IPhone loaded with carrier configurations can begin in the United States (AT&T), hop on a plane in Canada (Rogers) and make the trip to Spain (Movistar). Every step of the way the iPhone can easily be configured with the correct data and MMS settings that makes for a seamless experience.
It goes without saying that this may not make it into your phone. While I'd love to see the carrier agnostic clean sheet from the iPhone, Apple seems to have a penchant for patenting really interesting ideas and sitting on them.
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