Loading ...Law delays iPhones in France
Posted by Mitesh Ashar on October 7th, 2007
We’re not exactly up on our French, let alone our French telecommunications law, but we’re hearing that Apple’s supposed launch of the iPhone in that country is being held up by two different regulations that prevent the iPhone from being the locked-down revenue-generating machine Apple wants it to be. The first, a law passed in 1998, requires that carriers unlock any phone upon customer request — for a fee during the first six months of a contract and for free after that. Notably, all three major French carriers — including Orange, which was supposed to get the iPhone — have lost lawsuits challenging this law. The second, which we’re slightly less clear on, apparently requires carriers to sell both locked and unlocked phones. Tensions over the regulations have apparently strained the relationship between the companies to the point where Orange spokespeople are saying things like “the risk we’re evaluating this week is that Apple crosses France off,” but really, who expected Apples and Oranges to mix without someone getting a little bruised?
Read — French unlocking law with unlocking provision at end of Article II
Read — Les Echoes report on Apple / Orange tension
Disclaimer: Although this post was written by an attorney, the attorney in question only met his university’s foreign language graduation requirement by reciting an Eddie Izzard routine verbatim, so this post should not be considered legal advice or analysis of any kind.
via engadget.com [Original post]
December 4th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
I fail to Understand that in an increasingly global world, why is apple trying to capitalize on a small gadget like Iphone, which doesn’t even have an sms facility. And looking at the competition among worldwide users, apple is just trying to be pure capitalist in outlook or is being plain ignorant.
I guess Its high time apple should come out of its domain and make its devices more compatible with the most popular formats worldwide otherwise this may bring about its doom as is the story of a frog in the well.