French Law Means Unlocked Apple iPhones
October 17, 2007 - 5:54 am - Posted by iDunzo
The price is unconfirmed, but Orange, the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in France, will have to offer an unlocked version of Apple’s device to comply with French law.
According to Orange’s French website, the company is obligated to sell an unlocked version of any handset which is also sold as part of a subscription package.
The International Herald Tribune reports on the law “passed in 1998 barring network operators from locking new devices to a network for more than six months”.
It’s unlikely that even Apple will be able to squirm out of this, so expect a libere iPhone sometime next year.
It looks like France could become the hub for GodPhone exports (expensive, $560 exports, but exports nonetheless.)
