Gee, it’s almost surprising that Apple omitted this from its press release yesterday about the iPhone’s availability in France. As the country has a law that prevents the exclusive bundling of phones with a service provider, Apple and Orange will be forced to offer an unlocked version of the phone. A price was not discussed, but some speculate that it could be as high as €999; the official cost will be announced in November.
So there you have it: if you want to pick up a legitimately unlocked version of the iPhone, it’s time to buy your tickets to Paris for the end of next month.
Oh the French bless 'em... The question is how will they update their firmware without re-locking the phone like the rest of us? More to the point will we (the rest of the world) be able to use the open French firmware on our phones if we can get a copy?
The French are going to save democracy again for iphone users. The French Revolution.