14 DAY TRIAL // There is still some time left to wait until Orange makes an official announcement on bringing the iPhone to France. Not much though, according to the latest rumors, that predict the phone will be out on the market sometime by the end of November in this country.
Apple and Orange drove a hard bargain all this while on the terms of the iPhone's availability in France. One of the problems that seem to have stood in between them was a legislation rule which demanded carriers to unlock the handsets after six months of use.
It should be interesting to see how they got around it, especially as there are extremely low chances for Apple to accept this term. If this deal is anything like the one this producer managed to pull off in the UK, with O2, it should have a pretty important share from the carrier's revenues. This means that there is no interest for them to let go of subscribers and stop making profits off their use of the iPhone after only six months.
Still, Didier Lombard, France Telecom's CEO, said to a French newspaper that the operator has managed to win the deal with Apple and that the iPhone will arrive in France by the end of November. Things couldn't be clearer than that. This means that an official announcement from these two companies should arrive shortly, setting the exact date when the handset will be out on the French market.
The only thing left to find out concerns pricing and availability, as none of the two companies have provided this information. As a matter of fact, Apple has been extremely silent on the details, making all leaked information come from the carriers. One thing is sure. If the iPhone hits France by the end of November, an official announcement should be made any time now.