Parisian court upholds ban on iPhone exclusivity
updated 11:15 am EST, Wed February 4, 2009
Fra. iPhone kept unlocked
The sudden lifting of iPhone exclusivity in France will remain in effect, a ruling from the Paris Court of Appeals has declared. In December, the country's national competition council ordered Apple and official carrier Orange to temporarily permit other companies to sell the device, pending deeper investigation into complaints from Bouygues Telecom. Apple and Orange subsequently filed an appeal, but this was denied by a Parisian judge in a 19-page Wednesday ruling.
France maintains strict pro-competition laws, which in the case of cellphones forbid tying a device to a single carrier. Apple and Orange have attempted to work around this obstacle by offering an unlocked device, but at a higher cost, and still only through the pair's own outlets. Bouygues has demanded the right to sell the phone, noting that the iPhone is subject to unfair channel limitations.
Bouygues has praised the ruling, and announced that it is already in negotiations with Apple to decide iPhone sales terms. The device will in fact be launched for Bouygues subscribers as soon as a deal is completed, the company claims. An online retailer, FNAC, began selling unlocked phones only a week after the December decision.










Another victory
02/04, 12:06pm reply
for freedom of choice.
rytc
Mac Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
but...
02/04, 12:23pm reply
Are the laws strong enough to keep Apple from trying to force double the rates over Orange, to keep their partner with the better terms/plans?
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
speaking of choice...
02/04, 01:06pm reply
...I notice that MacNN has changed the way it's RSS feeds link to the actual articles (through Pheedo)! It is now impossible to click to full articles if you have Safari Adblock enabled. This change has only occurred within the last few days so it is interesting that MacNN should report on issues of choice whilst simultaneously removing the similar "choice" to NOT be inundated with adverts on their own sites.
Feathers
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 1999
Re: speaking of choice
02/04, 06:36pm reply
Maybe the problem is more with Safari Adblock blocking the links rather than MacNN. Did you check out what the links are hooked to?
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Good
02/05, 07:24am reply
More free iPhone news buzz plus demand via other carriers = good for Apple sales
JEB
Junior Member
Joined: May 2001
Double standards...
02/05, 12:09pm reply
SFR (another carrier in France) is keeping particularly quiet about this as they have exactly the same thing on Blackberry Storm which only they are allowed to sell. Seems that there is no problem if you have exclusivity on an unpopular device, just a popular one.
Ah the French.... such a wonderful nation....
Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999