10/17/2007, 10:20am, EDT
Wednesday, October 17th
Orange to (also) sell unlocked iPhones in France
French carrier Orange will sell the iPhone in both locked and unlocked versions for the country, a company spokeswoman says. Béatrice Mandrine, elaborating on yesterday's launch date announcement, explains that while a standard version will be tied to Orange and cost €399 ($560), shoppers will also be able to buy an unlocked iPhone for an as-yet unspecified premium. An official announcement of its cost is expected to be made in November, some time before the November 29th release; Mandrine has declined to say, meanwhile, what revenue arrangements Orange may have made with Apple in lieu of sharing cellular fees.
The creation of an officially unlocked iPhone marks a dramatic change for Apple, which has so far negotiated only exclusive contracts, such as the five-year deal with American carrier AT&T. The company has also been accused of deliberately sabotating attempts to use the phone with other carriers, despite the fact that unlocking a cellphone is legal under US law. Unlocking is also a common practice in Europe, where Apple has secured exclusives with O2 in the United Kingdom and T-Mobile in Germany.
Apple's move is most likely a necessary response to French law, which stipulates that phones cannot be sold solely under contract. This and heavy revenue demands from Apple are said to have once threatened the arrival of the iPhone in France, although this view is disputed by Mandrine. "This [delayed announcement] did not have to do with locking or unlocking the phone," she says. "It was about finalizing the commercial agreement."
Some analysts argue that Apple will receive as much as 30 percent of operator revenues from the Orange iPhone, an amount unprecedented given that most cellular networks share little to none of their fees with handset makers.
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And... as a shareholder, I like how Apple sells the same product for the same number of currency units as in the US (399), but since they're selling in euros they get a 40% premium... however if I were a European I'd be steamed about this. Of course this is nothing new, they do the same thing with iPods.
It comes down to an issue of control. Historically this has been a repeated problem for Steve Jobs, an adopted child, who has subsequently felt the need to control the uncontrollable his whole adult life. While the iPhone has been a qualified success (and clearly a technological achievement), it likely could have been a much greater success had Jobs been willing to loosen the reigns and allow uncontrolled, open distribution. (Why settle for adding $30 dollars to your stock price when you could have added $130?)
All that AT&T offers uniquely is visual voice mail, a feature that is available as a third party add-on anyway, so what was the advantage? Control -- and likely hefty kickbacks, but mostly control.
You own the iPhone with restrictions. You can own a gun in the US, but firing it in the streets or modifying it for fully automatic use is illegal.
I think you can purchase a third-party cable box from Scientific Atlanta, but you'd need to register it with TimeWarner. http://www.scientificatlanta.com/products/consumers/new_cableboxes.htm You can use any cable-modem that meets TimeWarner's DOCSIS specifications.
This has nothing to do with Jobs's childhood, eing adopted, wanting control or any such thing. This is about two things:
1. Making the best possible user experience CONSISTENTLY;
2. Making the highest possible profit margin the market would accept.
Unlocked phone will probably sell for equivalent of US$700-750 (AT&T's subsidies). Its price will have to be protective enough of Orange as not to cannibalise its profits, and not too high as not to appear too protective of Orange's profits, but high enough to make sure Apple makes equivalent profits.
Requiring unlocked phones may seem like big brother, but it simply opens the markets up and still allows companies like Orange and Apple to make plenty of money.
Besides you can vote a political big brother out of office, but you can't do that to MS.