Unlocked iPhones in France – but when for all?

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Friday, 19 October 2007

Page 1 of 2 ! Reports that Apple and Orange will sell both locked and unlocked versions of the iPhone in France have emerged, with Orange making statements that have since been qualified by Apple – but now that third party apps are on the way, unlocked iPhones for all could be too. Ever since it became known that French law that requires operators to sell unlocked versions of any phone that is also sold locked to a network, speculation has mounted on whether Apple would sell the iPhone in France, or try to back out and simply refuse to sell them there. Speculation has also raged on whether unlocked iPhones would work elsewhere in the world as French unlocked models would end up on eBay within minutes or hours of their purchase on November 29, if unlocked phones do indeed go on sale at the same time as locked versions. Now a report in the International Herald Tribute (IHT) has quoted Béatrice Mandrine, a spokeswoman for French phone company Orange, as saying that they plan to sell a version of the iPhone locked to the Orange network for €399 (approx US $560), “and an unlocked version, which will cost more”. However Apple has officially responded to the various enquiries of different technology news websites, with Gizmodo saying that Apple’s official response to their enquiry was that “the IHT was only citing French law, not Orange's intentions, and that this matter, along with the particulars of pricing plans, etc., will be addressed before the French iPhone launch”. This completely ignores the fact that the IHT was directly quoting an Orange spokesperson about their intentions, but it’s still true that when it comes to Apple, it’s usually best to wait until Apple officially announces it before taking it anything as gospel. Of course, Apple’s positions on things can change. The price of DRM-free tracks has fallen to the same price as the DRM-laden versions. The iPhone will now officially support third party apps – although we don’t know if controls will be put in place so they can only officially be purchased through iTunes, or can simply be downloaded from the website of any software developer that offers it. There’s also the change from Power PC chips to Intel processors, something that was once as likely as Dell ever running AMD chips or selling Linux, and of course there’s the ability of Macs to run Windows natively, something that wasn’t going to be allowed on Intel based Macs until hackers figured out how to do it anyway. Still, questions remain about how Apple will handle both officially locked, and officially unlocked iPhones. Apple’s strategy thus far has been to charge full price for the iPhone, allow no subsidies to be offered by carriers, and to take a chunk of subscriber revenues – something new radically new in the world of mobile telephony, giving Apple an ongoing and important new revenue stream. Unlocked iPhones which can be used on any network deny Apple of this revenue, but it can also cost consumers more money, too - users of unlocked iPhones will usually connect to a network that doesn’t have a flat rate data plan, forcing users to pay higher rates for EDGE data usage. Companies like Three with their X Series service have been making mobile broadband prices much cheaper for mobile users, but as other carriers still charge significantly higher prices, unlocked iPhone owners have no doubt been checking which carrier offers the best value data rates and phone plans. But will unlocked French iPhones arrive at the same time as locked models? And what about unlocked iPhones for all? Please read onto page 2 for the conclusion... << First page <   1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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