Unlocked French iphones not selling like French toast

With all the fuss over unlocked iPhones, you’d think that France provider Orange—the only company who legitimately sells them—would be doing bumper business in legally unlocked iphones. Not so: a spokesperson for the company recently said that sales for the unlocked model were about 12,600 or 14% of the 90,000 sold as of January 31, 2008.

So why the low demand, what with so many unlocked phones popping up around the world? Actually, that’s the answer right there. With the “official” unlocked model costing &eur;649 (~US$1017), it’s a substantial premium over even an imported gray market iPhone. And with unlocking a still relatively simple process, there’s little point in paying all the extra dough for something you can do at home, virtually for free.