French voting with their wallets
December 5th 2007
Quoting Orange (France Telecom) figures, BBC reports that of the 30,000 iPhones sold in France since launch, 20 percent have been unlocked. This is an amazing figure given the egregious €749 ($1,210) asking price for the handset sans contract.
Orange says that 48 percent of people buying the phones were new customers for the network.
The iPhone sells for €399 in France with contract, which start at €49 per month.
Yesterday, a German court ruled that T-Mobile, Apple's exclusive network partner in that country, isn't required to offer the iPhone without a contract. After the ruling, the wireless telco immediately snuffed sales of the iPhone sans contract, which it was offering for €999 ($1,477).
Editor's note: Viva la hack!
