By Tony Smith for The Register. This
story was reproduced with permission.
French law prevents carriers from tying handsets exclusively to
their networks - consumers have to be able to move to a different
network provider and take their phones with them. The upshot is
that Orange will sell a locked iPhone for €399 alongside an
unlocked model for a price that's yet to be specified by either
party.
Apple's tie-up
with Orange was revealed back in August, but while the iPhone
maker's partnerships with O2 in the UK and T-Mobile in Germany were
announced to the public the following month, as expected, the
Orange arrangement has taken longer to finalise than was
anticipated.
Orange, these days part of France Telecom, was adamant that the
time had been spent haggling
over the commercial details of the arrangement and had nothing
to do with unlocking the iPhone.
However, the arrangement is a tricky one for Apple. What can it
do to stop, say, British or German punters popping to Paris to pick
up a SIM-free iPhone? Since its deals with O2 and T-Mobile are
believed to be founded on taking a cut of the money the networks
make from iPhone users, that's not an outcome Apple will be happy
with.
That said, we don't know how much more Apple and Orange will
charge for the unlocked iPhone or how readily available it will be.
It's not hard to imagine Apple obeying the letter or the law but
not its spirit by charging, say, twice as much for the unlocked
iPhone as the tethered one.
The price of the unlocked iPhone, along with the cost of the
contract attached to the locked version, will be announced in
November, Orange said.
© The Register
2007
