messiah

...in France at least.

Apple have given in to French law which states that phones can only be locked to a network as long as there's a unlocked version also available.

Apple have chosen Orange to be the French network, but some are reporting that the rest of Europe will follow suit as anyone wanting one will just import one from France rather than being stuck with O2 like we would be here.

Hoping all this will be sorted by the time I get round round to getting one, and the updated phone is due January by all accounts too.

T5OLF

iTrader: (4)

Rather have the 8 gig N95 personally.

JackClark

Great news, I unlocked two US phones last night and am trying to source more, a trip to France would be much easier.

RoadrunnerV2

Somehow I can't imagine the unlocked phones being the same price on Apple Store as the locked ones

Markus

Got a link to official confirmation on this? I saw a post on MacRumors yesterday where it mentioned Orange was the carrier, but there wasn't a mention of the unlock status.

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

http://www.macworld.co.uk/ipod-itune...pe=allchandate

RoadrunnerV2

The link doesn't mention unlocked phones. My understanding of French telco law is that Orange customers can request for their iphones to be unlocked. Within the first 6mths Orange can apply an admin charge, thereafter the unlock has to be done for free.

I can see the French unlocked iphones commanding a huge premium because you still have to go with Orange to unlock them or no doubt you pay a huge premium for a unlocked one without a contract.

Markus

Jack,
Did you use the new 1.1.1 anySIM to unlock the phones? Just had a bleary eyed look at hackintosh and seen they've unlocked 1.1.1 phones