Liberty! Fraternity! Incompatibility?
We brought you word last month of the apparent deal between Apple and Orange to bring the iPhone to France. That story broke around the same time, Apple reached similar deals with mobile service providers in the U.K. and Germany; the chief difference, however, was that Apple never formally announced the Orange deal unlike its official pronouncements with T-Mobile and O2.
Apparently, there was a good reason for that lack of an official word — it may not be a done deal just yet.
MarketWatch cites a report in the French daily Les Echoes that says the iPhone might not make it to France before Christmas. The reason, according to MarketWatch?
The difficulties stem from a French law that would require the iPhone to be sold both with and without contracts, undermining its exclusivity for Orange and Apple’s demand of up to 30% of voice and data revenues, Les Echos reports.
The mysterious lack of iPhone-related chatter at the just-completed Apple Expo in Paris suddenly seems not so mysterious.
Category: News
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Comments (2)
I live in Boston and about 8 days ago my phone switched to roaming when I was in the middle of downtown. The new service provider? Orange. It was strange and has not happened since.
Posted by Ben | October 5, 2007 6:22 PM
I'm glad to see at least one country is sticking to pro-consumer laws. There's no reason a phone should have to be locked to a carrier. If it's a matter of getting your R&D money back, you can just sell the unlocked version for more money, but forcing a contract on to a user should not be allowed.
Vive la France!
Posted by sunnyDlite![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://iphone.macworld.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
October 5, 2007 8:05 PM