You would have thought that Apple's lawyers would have looked into this early on. Another poster from Belgium previously said that it was illegal to sell locked phones there also. Seems strange for this to rear its head so late in the day. Perhaps Apple were just getting too greedy in the end. They certainly seem to be getting more and more that way, much the same as Microsoft.

You would think this would be one of the first things their marketing people investigated.

I'd like to see the laws everywhere force the independence of the phone you buy from the carrier you use it with. Then Apple would have to choose between selling a phone that anyone can use with any carrier (at least signal-compatible carrier -- at this point, that's any GSM carrier) and not selling a phone at all.

I'm sure Apple could still make lots and lots of money selling a phones in a much more open market.

It almost doesn't make sense for that to stop the deal. I think it makes more sense to offer an unlocked unit at double the price, some would go to Apple, some would go to the official local iPhone carrier anyway.

The only problem is that it would provide a template for independent unlocking. the best thing I can think of to stop that is put in a minor change in the hardware that differentiate the two so that an independent unlocker would have to get inside and risk breaking the phone anyway.

The sort of issues Apple is experiencing in France, is going to be noticed in some other European countries too. Heck, in Belgium you aren't even allowed to sell a locked phone.

Apple is going to quickly learn that when it comes to telecoms, the west of the world plays differently than North America. I think it is time they woke up and changed their business model, with regards to the iPhone.

HAHAHAHAHA

FU APPLE

FREE THE DAMN iPHONE ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The dilemma for Apple is that allowing unlocked phones in France jeopardizes their exclusivity deals elsewhere, particularly for Europe. Why lock yourself into a 2-year contract with O2 or T-Mobile (in the UK and Germany, respectively) when you can head to France (for some a short drive/flight/rail trip) and buy the unlocked version and use a cheapo prepaid SIM from the corner store. And you know there will be heavy international eBay trade in officially unlocked iPhones from France if this happens.

How long are the exlusivity contracts until?

I wonder whether they could add firmware to 'unlocked' versions that would prevent them using SIMs with companies they have signed exclusivity contracts with. I admit this would be convoluted, but maybe a compromise solution.