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The price difference may indicate the amount of $ Apple gets from carriers per contract.

That is the price difference between locked and unlocked phones.

What does this have to do with annoying glossy iMac screens?

just kidding

> "analysts expect to see much of the fanfare witnessed when the iPhone launched in the United States on June 29"

Analyst who don't have a clue about the European market, that is.
It's not Apple's fault - the operators will screw it.

Won't make much difference, lots of people have unlocked their iPhones here in the US, Apple will just get more money for them in France?

Those lucky French people... isn't that what we were always wishing for in the US?

On the other hand, what'd stop Apple from pricing the unlocked version way higher than normal in order to discourage people from buying the iPhones unlocked?

I always thought that if Orange and Apple made an exclusive deal it would be a very vegan sort of deal. I mean it wouldn't have any meat to it. In fact you could almost call it fruity!

"The situation threatens to scupper Apple's fiercely defended business model of distributing the iPhone through one operator exclusively."
Cool. If there was ever an idiotic business model in desperate need of a severe scuppering, this Apple exclusive carrier foolishness is it. I may go back to eating "French" fries again.

So, let me see if I have this right. I can get an iPhone from Apple with a plan for "cheap", or I can get an iPhone from Apple without a plan for "expensive". Somehow, I fail to see how that goes against Apple's business model.

To British Mac Head:

No matter how you slice it, that's just pulp fiction. The real appeal stems from juicing the market.

I have yet to see any 'Official' communication either from Apple or Orange that confirms the marketing of unlocked iPhones in France.

This appears to be another media interpretation of French Law. What I have seen is a statement from Apple saying that the issue is being opposed by them and they believe they have grounds under both French and European Law.

More FUD.

Erk.

@ M. T. MacPhee

I agree with you... Expensive unlock iPhone or Cheap iPhone with an exclusive plan. Doesn't sound bad at all for Apple.

C'mon Apple, that model everywhere... or just open the iPhone.

"On the other hand, what'd stop Apple from pricing the unlocked version way higher than normal in order to discourage people from buying the iPhones unlocked?"

French law!

Couldn't apple just release the unlocked iPhone in france for a ridiculously high price to stop people from buying it?

Like a million euros?

That would be funny...

Apple, the new Microsoft!

I've grown a little weary of Apple's exclusivity deals. If it wants to stay out of court for acting as a monopoly, it should tweak it's tactics for openness (or lack there of). Security is a reasonably good reason to maintain control, but when that control is in fact a revenue stream, then they are openning themselves to critisism. I do understand that they are playing a more positive role in shaking up the landscape a bit. After all, would we ever see unlimited data options in our monthly bills instead of paying $$$ per byte?

@ Andrew

No monopoly here. They are thousands of other cellphones out there. Don't like the iPhone deal, then get another phone.

There are multiple ways that Apple can profit off the sale of unlocked phones in France.

The obvious way is to up the price of the unlocked phone to include the revenue loss from Orange. Apple has changed how they recognize revenue for the iPhone (and other products), this change enabled Apple to circumvent the laws that required Apple to charge for certain software upgrades (the ‘enabler’ charge for 802.11n). Likewise they could account for the sales of the ‘unlocked’ iPhone differently, and thereby charge the users of ‘unlocked’ iPhones for most software upgrades. Additionally, if a new or modified API was introduced in an iPhone software upgrade, then ‘unlocked’ iPhone users would not be able to run 3rd party applications that use those upgraded API’s unless they paid for the upgrade too. Those all seem like fair and reasonable steps that Apple could take to protect their business relationships in France.

And if Apple continues to add features to the iPhone that are linked with services from other partners (like Starbucks), then the allure of an ‘unlocked’ iPhone will diminish because of the upgrade costs.

I also suspect that Apple is exploring other legal avenues of distribution in France that would make the ‘unlocked’ iPhones less desirable.

However, I do think that Apple has seen the bigger picture here. Most of the ‘unlocked’ iPhones that are sold in France will not be used in France. Hopefully Apple will be able to track where those phones are being used and then work hard on ‘exclusive’ deals in those countries.

For once, the frogs got it right. They're now officially good for 3 things: Food, Women & legal, unlocked iPhones...

Who says it's Apple's business model that's threatened. Seems to me it's the telcos that have something to worry about.