I think the author is conflating SIM cards with vendor lock-in. Phones locked to SIM cards from a particular carrier are not good. If you want them to die, then fine - but that's got nothing to do with SIM cards.
SIM cards as authentication tokens work just fine. My phone takes SIM cards from any carrier. If I want to switch carriers, the new carrier just sends me a new SIM card.
Get rid of SIM cards, and you're going to end up with a security problem with keys being copied/cloned from phones. You're going to find that you need some kind of authentication based on a hardware crypto token, and will end up inventing...the SIM card.
In the UK now (possibly the EU) at the end of your contract (normally 18-24 months) the carrier has to unlock your phone now, my brother just came to the end of his contract and had his iPhone unlocked for free.
In the EU in general you can unlock your phone for a price, even if you're under contract.
The last time I checked Orange was charging something like 70 EUR for unlocking iPhones under contract, which is really not bad, considering you get the freedom to put any SIM in it after that.
Also, my own mobile carrier (Cosmote) sells subsidized unlocked iPhones. Basically for them the contract is enough to keep you "locked" as if you terminate early, you have to give back the subsidy you received for the remaining time, which is fair to both consumers and the mobile carrier.
It's crazy how better the mobile carriers are in Europe, versus the US.
SIM cards as authentication tokens work just fine. My phone takes SIM cards from any carrier. If I want to switch carriers, the new carrier just sends me a new SIM card.
Get rid of SIM cards, and you're going to end up with a security problem with keys being copied/cloned from phones. You're going to find that you need some kind of authentication based on a hardware crypto token, and will end up inventing...the SIM card.