Slashdot Mirror
iPhone Business Model Hits a Snag in France
Serhei writes "It seems like the iPhone might not be released in France by this holiday season, since French requires by law that all cell phones sold there must be obtainable in an unlocked version. Apple will not be able to do so, since it has launched with a 5-year exclusivity agreement with AT&T. That deal will probably require exclusivity worldwide to avoid grey-market imports. (In return for this agreement Apple receives a large share of AT&T's monthly revenues from iPhone subscribers.) If the iPhone falls through in France, the country can join Belgium and a potentially long list of other countries with unlocking laws, whose Apple fans will have to make do with other, less Apple-y phones. Note that there is currently no mention of the iPhone on the Apple France page."
I am sure that Apple are in legal hot waters in the entire E.U. It is my understanding that tying the sale of one product (the iPhone) to another (a mobile phone contract) is illegal anywhere in the E.U. Probably why phone unlocking is common place in the E.U. You can get around it to some extent if the phone is being subsidised by the mobile phone company. However by all accounts this is not the case with the iPhone.
And apple aren't locked out, they have every oppertunity to supply the iphone as long as they play by the laws of the country they are trading in, just like everyone else.
This is score one for consumers, by disallowing stupid vendor lock in.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....