Apple will sell unlocked iPhones in France next May to comply with a French law that prohibits a mobile phone from being tied to an exclusive wireless carrier for longer than six months. What will this mean for iPhone’s future?
iPhone in Europe
Quanta May Build European iPhone
Apple may have assigned Quanta to build a second generation iPhone with a “different outer design to fit different markets,” according to a report in China’s Commercial Times today.
“Different markets” may refer in part to European iPhone consumers, since Quanta said on its website that the 2nd gen. iPhone they may build is “expected in September 2007.”
Makes me wonder how different Apple’s European iPhone will be from the one we’ll see in June, and whether it will have more features & widgets.
Vodafone May Be Europe’s Exclusive iPhone Carrier
Steve Jobs announced at this year’s Macworld conference that Cingular would be the exclusive iPhone provider in the United States, but said nothing of iPhone’s European provider.
Now, according to a report in the Guardian, Apple is in talks with Vodafone to make the company the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in Europe, where the iPhone will launch supposedly by the end of this year.
It’s not set in stone yet, though.