Apple's iPhone heading across the pond
Updated at 12:00pm to clarify the French law on unlocked cell phones, and at 1:43pm with comment from Apple.
The iPhone on Friday will make its debut in the United Kingdom and Germany, the first countries outside of the United States to get their hands on Apple's first mobile phone.
Apple's Steve Jobs introduces the iPhone to the British in September.
(Credit: Crave UK)For months, many (including this guy) had expected Apple to wade into the European mobile-phone market with a 3G iPhone, but virtually the same model that's available in the States will be presented to British and German users of O2 and T-Mobile's networks, respectively. The 8GB iPhone is going to cost 269 pounds in the U.K.($563.87 as of this writing) and 399 euros ($583.84), including VAT in both countries.
It will be very interesting to see how the iPhone is received in Europe. Sophisticated smartphones and fast 3G networks are the norm in many places, not a novelty. Still, the combination of the touch-screen interface and the iPod capabilities should tempt some European consumers; at the Intel Developer Forum in September, I noticed more than one member of the British press sneaking over to the San Francisco Apple store to acquire an iPhone, presumably with plans to unlock it for the carrier of their choice.
According to reports, there will be at least one significant change arriving with the European iPhones: OS X 1.1.2. UPDATED: Apple confirmed Thursday afternoon that OS X 1.1.2 will ship tomorrow "to support the international launch of the iPhone."
The software update, which will presumably be delivered to all iPhone owners, is said to fix the TIFF image flaw that allowed the iPhone to be rehacked after the 1.1.1 update disabled third-party applications. It will also probably escalate the hacking wars by making the iPhone more impervious to both third-party applications and unlocking, the real source of consternation for Apple.
Later this month, France will be the third European destination for the iPhone, and Apple and Orange, the wireless carrier selected for France, might have to make a concession to the forces of unlocking. Apparently, it's against French law to sell mobile phones locked to a specific network, though Apple has not confirmed whether its French iPhone will be locked.
UPDATED: At the suggestion of a reader, I looked into this a little more, and it's not explicitly against the law to sell locked phones. However, the law requires that French carriers unlock phones if the customer requests it, and they have to let customers do that for free after six months.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
http://google.com/translate?u=http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnTexteDeJorf?numjo=ECOI9800816A
I'll update that sentence to be a little clearer.
iPhones sold in France through Orange would have to comply with
consumer's rights laws of France by suppling in addition to the
"locked" Orange version an "unlocked" version which would allow
cell phone subscribers to use the cell phone provider of their
choice. This "Naked iPhone" comes at a price though as it's
expected to cost over $1,200 (USA$).
for the phone, then 200+ over time from AT&T), then to buy a
phone to unlock and use on another carrier would keep apple
from getting money from any carrier, which might actually be a
loss for them depending on R&D costs, especially in the short
term while those costs are still fresh. So, if the customer really
wants to use it on an alternate network, they have to pay for the
phone and whatever Apple would have gotten from the carrier
over two years +.
know why europe gets iPhone sooner than Canada, we're neighbors
for pete's sake!!!!!
countries would be run by the powers of the I-phone from distant
lands, I'm no longer getting that warm & fuzzy feeling I once felt
for that illustrious device. Now after the dust has settled, I wonder
if they will control the market they did just a short time ago. I love
the idea of being able to do so much with the touch of a button,
but I can't help but to ask myself if we're trying to do too much too
fast...
- Glad to hear it....
- by fred dunn November 9, 2007 7:34 AM PST
- Gee.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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