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  3. What do Apple's recent moves mean for identity in mobile services?

What do Apple's recent moves mean for identity in mobile services?

Escrito por Dario Betti el 01/07/2025 a las 09:15:08
966

(CEO of MEF (Mobile Ecosystem Forum) )

By Dario Betti, Mobile Ecosystem Forum

 

In two major announcements at its June 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) Apple has made decisive moves that could reshape the role of identity in mobile services, including for operators, wholesalers, and enterprise service providers. Whilst they are consumer-facing on the surface, the actions are likely to have wide-reaching implications for how mobile players offer identity, trust, and authentication solutions in the years ahead.

Let’s look at what Apple is doing and the potential implications.

 

1. Native Mobile ID Integration

 

In iOS 26, Apple is expanding its support for digital driver's licenses and other government-issued identity credentials within the Apple Wallet. Already trialled in select U.S. states and some European regions, this functionality is set to be deployed more widely, positioning the iPhone as a secure, government-recognised digital identity vault.

 

For mobile operators—particularly those involved in identity services, mobile wallets, and Know Your Customer (KYC) processes—this could mark a paradigm shift. Identity verification, traditionally performed via SIM registration or operator-managed digital ID platforms, may increasingly become a function that lives natively on the device itself. Apple’s support is, and will be, based on standards—but still done in Apple’s exclusive ecosystem

 

Potential Implications:

 

  • Reduced friction in onboarding for operator services as customers present digital IDs directly from their device.
  • Opportunity for carriers to partner with governments and Apple to issue or verify credentials.
  • Enhanced potential for eSIM activation and roaming authentication through verified digital ID.
  • Potential disruption in Authentication services – the availability of digital identities in the Mobile Phone could challenge One Time Password and other authentication services

 

2. Cross-Platform Secure Identity Sharing

 

Equally notable is Apple’s intention to enable secure, permission-based identity sharing across third-party apps and services. This feature would allow users to provide verified attributes—such as age, residence, or employment status—without exposing full personal data.

 

For the mobile ecosystem, this raises exciting possibilities:

 

  • Mobile operators could act as verified identity issuers, providing attributes (like verified phone number or account status) directly into Apple’s framework.
  • Enterprises—such as banks, insurers, and government agencies—could leverage this framework for trusted customer onboarding and remote service access.
  • Potential for IoT device provisioning, where a verified user identity streamlines secure device activation and network enrolment.

 

Why Should Telecom Wholesale Providers Care?

 

While these announcements are consumer-oriented at first glance, the backend infrastructure implications touch directly on wholesale telecom services:

 

Carrier-to-Carrier Trust Enhancements

 

Secure identity standards supported at the device level could improve traffic authentication and fraud prevention between networks. Operators could benefit from:

 

  • Reduced risk of fraud in international call and SMS termination.
  • New avenues for collaborative identity-based services, such as cross-border enterprise mobility or multi-network IoT device roaming.

 

Enterprise Identity Services

 

Vodafone, Orange and other MEF members already target the enterprise sector with secure connectivity offers. Apple’s secure ID system may offer telcos an opportunity to:

 

  • Bundle identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) solutions into existing enterprise mobility contracts.
  • Offer private network access control, mobile device management, and identity proofing services based on device-level credentials.

 

IoT Authentication Evolution

 

With billions of IoT devices projected to join networks in the coming years, Apple’s move could influence the way identity is established for devices, not just people. Secure provisioning, SIM profile downloads, and device enrolment processes could all benefit from robust, OS-integrated identity layers.

 

Strategic Questions for Mobile Operators

 

  • How should mobile operators and identity service providers position themselves in an ecosystem where the device increasingly becomes the identity authority?
  • Should carriers embrace Apple’s identity system as a trust layer for wholesale, roaming, and enterprise services—or build parallel operator-controlled frameworks?
  • Can MEF lead the development of interoperable standards that connect device-native IDs with network-level assurance mechanisms?

 

And finally

 

Apple’s announcements may signal the start of a broader shift toward device-centric identity, where smartphones—and not SIM cards or network systems—are the user’s primary credential manager. For the mobile sector this will require urgent strategic thinking on areas such as: collaboration with OS providers (like Apple, Google) on identity standards, the evolution of KYC, SIM provisioning, and roaming authentication processes, new service models for enterprises needing secure, mobile-first identity solutions.

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