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May 29. Mark your calendars, Apple fans. That's the day, if all goes according to plan, that Apple officially unlocks the iPhone.
Orange Telecommunications announced they would begin selling the iPhone in France starting November 29. The International Herald Tribune has reported that Orange is saying that Apple has agreed to comply with French law and begin selling officially unlocked iPhones.
Under French law, Orange can keep the iPhones locked for only six months but then must offer unlocked phones for sale. Orange has said the iPhone will be sold for as-yet-undisclosed premium, which will probably consist of your first-born child or maybe just your soul.
As the only distributor (so far) of the officially unlocked iPhone, they will probably be able to get away with just about any demands they want.
Of course, this is if Orange is telling the truth. The relation between Orange and Apple during contract negations dealing with the iPhone has been tenuous, with Orange already jumping the gun once in its rush to announce a deal. Apple itself has said nothing about unlocking the phone.
The silence coming from Apple over the unlocking of their phones is worth noting, but maybe nothing to be worried about. Apple may have just decided to shut up and cut its losses.
The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said last week that it would not allow any iPhones to be tied into an exclusive network, and both Finland, the home of Nokia, and Belgium reportedly have laws which would prevent the same.
This means the party is over before it had a chance to start for O2, T-Mobile and AT&T, the three telecoms who have signed exclusive deals with Apple.
As soon as the six month waiting period in France is over, the country is going to be very popular with distributors looking to sell the phone elsewhere. It's hard to imagine that any of the telecoms will renew a deal giving up networking fees when the competitors can run the same phone without paying for it.
Of course, the real slap in the face will be that unlocked phones will also be able to run on the "exclusive" network, by depriving Apple of it network fees.
This doesn't mean that Apple has thrown in the towel, yet. While it's hard to image that Apple would go farther our of its way to alienate its customers that it already has, it could try to device a way to keep the unlocked phone in France and make them unusable elsewhere, but what would be the point? None of Apple's tactics is keeping the iPhone from being unlocked now.
The other good news is that users who bought unlocked iPhones hacked by third-party vendors will no longer have to look over their shoulders for the Apple Secret Police. It's likely that future software updates to the phone will no longer cause the phone to be "bricked."
Hopefully, the introduction of the officially unlocked iPhone will bring an end to Apple's iPhone rollout nightmare. The only thing remaining will be deciding which Apple marketing executive will swing for this. After all, someone thought locking the iPhone was a bright idea.
Your comments
It was so bizarre to hear they locked the iPhone to start with ... but good to know that Apple's tactics have been countered by local laws in Europe and we won't have to rely on hackers to get the dream machine!
Naveed
Jeddah,Saudi Arabia
Posted: October 20, 2007, 11:26
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