“Orange” you glad they didn’t say “banana”?
Wow. Apple’s PR department must be trying to leave early this week, because it is cranking out as many press releases today as it can!
Apple and Orange today announced that Orange, the leading wireless carrier in France, will be the exclusive French carrier partner for the revolutionary iPhone when it makes its debut in France on Thursday, November 29.
The release is a fairly dry read for we (oui) non-French, but there was one line that struck me as odd:
In addition to all the revolutionary features that made iPhone so popular in the US, iPhone users in France will have access to Apple’s latest music offerings on iPhone including the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store.
Is it just me, or don’t we already have the iTunes Wi-Fi store? Or are they saying the Wi-Fi store is not popular in the US?
🙂
Or perhaps it’s just further evidence that Apple’s PR department may have their minds on Aruba’s white sandy beaches instead of their work…
Because of licensing agreements, different countries have different iTMS(es). So France doesn’t get access to the iTunes that US customers get. By including that in the release, it makes it clear that Apple has created a French (EU?) mobile iTunes service for Orange customers.
I was a bit surprised that Apple didn’t choose a single provider for all the EU countries, since it would make travel transparent for the user. But this might explain why they have a different one for each country. Well, that plus being able to pit them against each other. O2, T-Mobile, Orange… It’s now a prestige marque for mobile providers. Vodaphone will be willing to pay through the teeth for Spain or Italy.