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Orange fails to restore exclusive deal with Apple for iPhone in France
MacDailyNews — ... it was in talks with Apple and expected to sell the iPhone itself 'soon,'" Gil reports. "A spokesman for the second biggest player, SFR, owned by France's Vivendi and Britain's Vodafone Group (VOD.L), also welcomed the decision but said it needed a distribution contract with Apple to sell the device." Gil reports, "The Competition Council said that while it was not fundamentally opposed to exclusivity deals, future agreements on the iPhone would be capped at 3 months." Full article here . [Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "JES42" for the heads up.] ...

Orange Loses Fight for Exclusive iPhone Deal in France
iPodObserver — French cell service provider Orange suffered another setback in its fight to maintain its exclusive iPhone distribution deal now that an appeals court has ruled in favor of the country's Competition Council. The ruling nullifies Orange's exclusive contract with Apple and opens the iPhone to additional cell carrier deals in France. Bouygues Telecom filed a complaint with the Competition Council in 2008 claiming that the five-year exclusive distribution deal posed "serious and immediate damage" to France's cell phone market. The council agreed and suspended the exclusivity of Orange's deal on December 17, 2008. According ...