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Apple Announces that Orange is Exclusive iPhone Carrier in France

machou said:
Well there is alot of talks here in France about the now past troubles between Apple and Orange.

The following article from a well known business magazine here in France states that an agreement was reached and that the iPhone will be sold with and with out a contract.

It's speculation so far, but could have some true in it.
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thanks for the link.

yes, the unlocked price given there is speculation. i will be interested to see the official price when that is (i should think pretty quietly) announced.
 
XIII said:
Or does it mean that after each individual customer has been connected for 6 months, Apple have to unlock their phone for them if they wish?
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The above is probably the answer. You basically have to pay 6 months of data and minutes before the phone will be unlocked. Just a guess.
 
AppleisTasty said:
Maybe apple is planning to unlock all iPhones in 6 months. :)
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well after 6 months of starting the sales in france the iphone has been in the markets for almost a whole year. besides that one year old phones are pretty retro in general, apple should be quite close to releasing the second iteration of iphone by then. so the unlocking of the first generation iphones might not be that much of an issue then...
 
mccldwll said:
Clearly the iPhone is much more than a phone, which probably is what the law was originally directed to cover (remember the purpose of portability in general is to switch carriers if bad phone service). I'm sure Apple could unlock the phone part, possibly even provide voicemail if another carrier supports it, and maybe even texting, BUT may not have to unlock or support the safari web part or provide support/updates unless an arrangement is reached with Apple. Everything would be spelled out in advance.
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what nonsense! the point of the law is not to switch when you have bad service but to allow the consumer the freedom to choose their network without hindrance in the interests of competition. your idea clearly promotes the practice of making it very difficult to exercise choice.
 
You are all nuts

Is anyone with a little bit of sanity going to comment on the price of this thing????? Get over your it- that thing is going to cost at 399 euros a whopping $US565! And Apple are still complaining about contract revenues. Man, when are pople going to see that Apple has gone into greed overdrive??? :mad:
 
machou said:
Well there is alot of talks here in France about the now past troubles between Apple and Orange.

The following article from a well known business magazine here in France states that an agreement was reached and that the iPhone will be sold with and with out a contract.

It's speculation so far, but could have some true in it.
Click to expand...

cant understand haha but id like to read it
 
What are the roaming fees in Europe like? Is it expensive? I'm surprised that a locked phone like the iPhone will be popular with Europeans that are more likely to travel between countries than Americans on an annual basis.
 
BRLawyer said:
Ok, UK, France and Germany have it...what about the richest market in Europe? Please bring it to Switzerland, Apple..! And with Sunrise, of course...:rolleyes:
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Luxembourg, Ireland, Norway, and Liechtenstein are much wealthier ;-)
 
tripwire said:
Luxembourg, Ireland, Norway, and Liechtenstein are much wealthier ;-)
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Sorry, LX and Vaduz don't count (they are just tiny patches of land); as for the others, they SURELY lose in purchasing power, because of much higher combined tax load and living costs...CH inhabitants are therefore richer in real terms.
 
BigJohno said:
I wonder if you get a an orange sim card that it will work for the american iphone. or an O2 sim card????
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i would like to know this as well. I'm planning on moving to Ireland in the next year or so and would like to use a non unlocked iPhone that I do not have to repurchase.
 
maestrokev said:
What are the roaming fees in Europe like? Is it expensive? I'm surprised that a locked phone like the iPhone will be popular with Europeans that are more likely to travel between countries than Americans on an annual basis.
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Inter-country roaming is incredibly expensive right now but the European Commission is putting in place legislation to reduce the costs.

I think I pay 10EUR per month for my wife's contract and we pay about 15 EUR cents per minute talk-time and about the same for a text message. For me to call her then when she's abroad costs up to 1EUR per minute talk-time. That being said, the mobile market here is much more mature than The States with a near saturation of the Belgian market - nearly everyone has a mobile phone (or GSM as we call them here).
 
Bye Bye Baby said:
Is anyone with a little bit of sanity going to comment on the price of this thing????? Get over your it- that thing is going to cost at 399 euros a whopping $US565! And Apple are still complaining about contract revenues. Man, when are pople going to see that Apple has gone into greed overdrive??? :mad:
Click to expand...

Will we ever see the day when everybody [from the U.S.] posting here realises that prices in Europe are always advertised including taxes and that the minimum rate in the EU is 15%.

399 Euro in France => 399/1.196 Euro = 333.6 Euro before taxes
average exchange rate over the last six months: 1.368
333.6 * 1.368 = $456
 
mccldwll said:
Clearly the iPhone is much more than a phone, which probably is what the law was originally directed to cover (remember the purpose of portability in general is to switch carriers if bad phone service). I'm sure Apple could unlock the phone part, possibly even provide voicemail if another carrier supports it, and maybe even texting, BUT may not have to unlock or support the safari web part or provide support/updates unless an arrangement is reached with Apple. Everything would be spelled out in advance.
Click to expand...

Its a smartphone ( but Apple said its not, blah blah blah ) , so it'll still have to still abide by French law.. surely. Its a cell phone, just like smartphones are cell phones.
 
tripwire said:
Not really.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita
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Check what I said, please...it's not about GDP per capita, which means pretty much nothing to ordinary citizens after all.

"After buying the study's basic basket of goods and services, earners in Zurich, Geneva, Dublin, Los Angeles and Luxembourg retain the highest portion of their net wages for discretionary spending like vacations, luxury items or savings."

In other words, Swiss people are richer because they can spend more after mandatory expenses.

http://www.finfacts.ie/costofliving.htm#This_2006
 
BRLawyer said:
Check what I said, please...it's not about GDP per capita, which means pretty much nothing to ordinary citizens after all.

"After buying the study's basic basket of goods and services, earners in Zurich, Geneva, Dublin, Los Angeles and Luxembourg retain the highest portion of their net wages for discretionary spending like vacations, luxury items or savings."

In other words, Swiss people are richer because they can spend more after mandatory expenses.

http://www.finfacts.ie/costofliving.htm#This_2006
Click to expand...

Check the article, the figures take purchasing power in to account
 
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