back to article French get iPhones everywhere

French retailers have started selling iPhones, previously only available from network operator Orange, though at such a high mark-up that the offer is not that tempting. French law restricts anti-competitive behaviour such as exclusive availability or locking hardware to specific networks, which has threatened Apple's business …

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  1. gautam
    Paris Hilton

    Let them eat frogs - instead !

    If its too expensive. Its just another way Jesus has maintained the monopoly.

  2. Bassey

    What happens to the Visual Voicemail

    Can anyone confirm what happens to the Visual Voice Mail service when the handset is used with "unofficial" operators? When the first iPhone was launched Apple used the excuse that they were restricting the networks that launched the iPhone because the Visual Voicemail system would only work if the network had the infrastructure in place and they weren't able to get that infrastructure in place for all networks.

    So, if you buy an iPhone from O2 and then unlock it to work with Vodaphone, do you lose visual voicemail?

    I'll leave the matter of who gives a crap to another day. Not that it would take that long.

  3. David

    Visual VM on Voda

    Visual VM only works if the network support it, i.e in the UK the VVM works on O2 (but only on a iPhone tariff, it does not work on a 'normal' tariff), and I can confirm that neither the 2G or 3G, when unlocked, offer VVM on Voda UK, I use them both, but normal VM works fine, you simply configure the the device to call the appropriate VM short dial number when you tap the VM button.

  4. Nev
    Jobs Halo

    Another place not to buy one from.

    SFR, the other big network, is now offering sign-up for the end of Orange's monopoly on the iPhoney.

    Mine's the one with the Sony Ericson in the pocket.

  5. Jeff Paffett

    Come to Greece

    Vodafone sell an unlocked 8GB iPhone for €499.00 in Greece...

  6. Gulfie
    Flame

    @Gautam

    Being expensive maintains a monopoly? What kind of Economics experience have you had? Lets start at the beginning:

    Monopoly: "a market in which there are many buyers but only one seller"

    I've never yet heard of a company setting a high price to maintain a monopoly in a free market economy. That would just encourage other companies to build their own products and sell them more cheaply. And they have. Blackberry, LG, and others all build and sell smart phones with capabilities similar to the iPhone. So no monopoly. Multiple sellers of different products with similar features.

    Apple has a monopoly on the iPhone, I suppose, but then Ferrari has a monopoly on Ferrari sports cars and I don't see anybody shouting out that Kia should be allowed to build and sell a Ferrari at Kia prices.

  7. AJ

    So What Is The EU Law On This?!

    considering were all a part of the EU now, what is old vivs stance on this - surely if france can have it law that a provider can not have exclusive rights to a phone, this anti competitive law can be rolled out to ALL EU STATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  8. Simon Buttress
    Paris Hilton

    @ Gulfie

    snigger snigger, you eejit. I think he meant maintain the monopoly of the provider that currently has the iPhone on it, as provided to it by Apple. I can see where the opportunity to pedantically jump in with both feet came from though.

    Yes, technically not a perfect theoretical monopoly as the iPhone is available on other providers but given the price is so astronomically high it's pretty much guaranteed that a virtual monopoly will be kept by the provider (and by Apple as they supply the provider) as I assume there aren't that many people that want the iPhone so badly to pay the exorbitant amount of money they are asking for unlocked ones.

    I could be wrong though.

    Paris, as even she'd see what Gautam meant to say.

  9. Ross Fleming

    Kills most operators

    As stated again and again, Apple/O2 are not unique in this practice. Vodafone have the Blackberry Storm (and others, such as a few Nokias - the 6124 springs to mind). You can play the same game with other operators.

    The only reason I can see for people being gleeful is that they secretly want an iPhone, despite the disparaging comments, just not on O2. The lady doth protest too much methinks...

  10. Graham Lockley

    @Ross Fleming

    >The only reason I can see for people being gleeful is that they secretly want an iPhone

    Umm, no. As a piece of hardware the jury is (very much) out. As a phone interface, yes Apple have worked hard (not to my tastes but Im not everyone) and done a reasonable job. The big fail for me (and a lot of other folk I know) is the fact that you dont OWN one. You have to get apps through the Appstore and Apple push 'upgrades' out to 'owners'(who wants to p*ss about jailbreaking every few months). A lot of the irritation with Apples wunderkind is the handcuffs that go with it.

    Will be interesting to see just how 'network free' these phones are, will the Appstore still be the only place ?

  11. Pavlovs well trained dog
    Thumb Up

    Come to Cape Town

    R7500 for an unlocked, any network, all feature 16GB iPhone

    that's €571

  12. Andy ORourke
    Coat

    @ Graham Lockley

    "You have to get apps through the Appstore and Apple push 'upgrades' out to 'owners'(who wants to p*ss about jailbreaking every few months). A lot of the irritation with Apples wunderkind is the handcuffs that go with it."

    1. True, you have to use App store if you want the stuff thats on App store but there are many, many alternative repositories for many more "serious" applications if you have jailbroken your phone.

    2. I have never had an upgrade "pushed" onto my phone, I get a notification there is new software available but I choose when to upgrade

    3. Piss about jailbreaking - takes about 10 minutes once you have done it a couple of times.

    The iPhone is the second bit of apple kit I have ever owned, I had an original iMac and hated it. The iPhone I got because I am a bit of a gadget freak and I liked the look of it.

    I have big fat fingers but can still use the keyboard (the autosuggestion / completion is in my humble opinion one of the best I have ever seen!).

    Yes there are (quite a few) shortcomings, cut & past is one of the most common complaints, but, overall I enjoy using it, I have some wonderful games which quite frankly make any of the Java apps on my wifes Samsung or the daughters Nokia look like 1st term VB student programming attempt and it suits me down to the ground.

    Mines the one with the unlocked, jailbroken one with a load of apps from non apple approved programmers in the pocket :-)

    Happy new year reg readers

  13. gautam

    Monopoly ? yes - Gulfie

    Thanks Simon Buttress, I couldn't have put it and explained any more succinctly.

    True that these big boys find ingenious ways of holdng onto "monopolistic" behaviour by overpricing others out of the game!

    Same is true of BT by allowing LLU at a stiff enough price to discourage smaller palyers from ISPofferings.

    IE : they have carved out the market amongst themselves, OFTEL, Anti-trust or restricitve trade practices notwithstanding.

  14. Olaf
    Happy

    iPhone cost $70 w/o contract

    Just bought our 3rd iPhone (unlocked) for $70. AT&T and TMobile SIMS work fine. My son got a free iPhone from my cousin (who upgraded to 3G) as a reward for updating her WIFI. You'll also find many 2.5 an 3G iPhones on eBay W/O contracts for somewhat more.

    Why unlock? As millions know, the FREE iPhone VideoRecorder (CyCorder), ssh, sftp and Unix works great on Cydia (10 minutes to unlock an iPhone). It's a remarkable handheld Unix computer which happens to have a phone and videocam. Thus, if you're enterprising, anyone with some knowledge and initiative can afford an iPhone. So let's stop the bellyaching about high iPhone cost.

  15. sleepy

    Just to be clear about the big picture.

    With near universal cellphone use, carriers are in the tax collecting business. They pay governments up front with borrowed money for the right to levy tax with airwave licenses, and pay up front a premium for handsets that can increase the monthly take per punter. (Governments use their money to bribe the cheaper voters). The punter has to sign an expensive contract.

    55% was already the gross margin on a leading handset. But the makers (other than RIM) lost control of the features and services that punters receive. To avoid that, Apple went the exclusive route to force a single carrier in each market to provide a neutral data pipe for iPhone. At first Apple asked for a revenue share. But carriers are all about using debt to feed greed, and it was easy for Apple to "lose" the bogus revenue sharing battle and switch carriers over to paying up-front a larger subsidy than any other handset maker receives, resulting in 60-70% gross margins on iPhone.

    As people tirelessly point out, Apple could sell more iPhones if . . . But they would end up powerless OEM hardware designers. To keep control of the customer experience, they are forced to be as powerful in the market as they can be, which is what they are doing. Apple (like Google) uses its power to deliver a better user experience. The profits they make are a necessary part of prevailing against powerful incumbents. There is always the risk that "not being evil" comes to an end one day. But for now, Apple and Google are the ones moving the experience forward for ordinary people. At least we can be grateful for that.

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