I’m going to write this whole post without making a pun about Apples and Oranges. The point is, though, that we’d heard that Orange would be the French carrier for the froggy version of the iPhone. Orange had planned on announcing the partnership, and later did.
Here’s the stickler though: Apple and Orange had never actually settled on the economics. They’re apparently in an acrimonious tug-of-war as to the pricing. Not the handset itself, but in regards to what percentage Cupertino gets of Oranges service plans.
That means Apple’s iPhone in France? Not so fast, friends. I’d like to give you more details, but I don’t read French, but you’re welcome to check out the post from TechCrunch France on your own. Shortly after the photo, our colleague over the sea uses the word “mayonnaise” for an unknown reason. Maybe you know.
Du Rififi entre Orange et Apple autour de l’iPhone [TechCrunch France]
What’s this “froggy” racist remark? Any way you cut it…it is a racist remark!
I don’t usually read TechCrunch en francais since a lot of the stories overlap… but for the mayonnaise comment I made the effort!
I don’t know if you actually care or just thought it was funny… but I’m going to tell you anyway since I took it as my duty to provide an explication.
“Le moins que l’on puisse dire est que la mayonnaise prend beaucoup moins en France que dans d’autres pays concernant le lancement de l’iPhone.”
Literally this translates as “the least one can say is that mayonnaise takes a lot less in France then in other countries concerning the launch of the iPhone”
This makes more sense if you understand the metaphor/expression in france refers to the fact that mayo is pretty difficult to make from scratch and if not careful it will go bad. So the mayo = the launch of the iPhone. The mayo has gone bad in France but in other countries it’s still safe to eat!
:-) (this will likely only lead to an increased amount of comments against the french but oh well…)
@ Ken Lore: dude, the French are a country, not a race (who says they’re “one quarter French”?). Or a culture. It’s not racist. Also, the French, as a culture, are fun, and easy, to make fun of. Your argument to me shouldn’t be that I’m making fun of the French (which is OK), but that I’m being lazy about it.
@ Mariena: Thanks, but you’re right: I’m more confused. If I understand, the non-literal translation is: “In France, we’ve got it so rough! Mayonnaise doens’t come in jars! And now no iPhones!? Sac-la-blur!”
Am I close?
Thanks for commenting!
But really, thanks for trying to make it make sense, but I’m all, like, “Huh!?”.
I’m french and I’m crying…
I more prefer SFR (Vodafone) than Orange… but I don’t know if finally we’ll have the iPhone one day… sic
Ok, the whole point is that in France you aren’t allowed to force customers to buy a service or a product they might not want.
That means that there, Apple can’t exclusively sell the iphone with an Orange service. The Iphone also needs to be sold separately.
For the same reason, a french court ruled against Acer and Microsoft: a customer sued both for not being allowed to buy the computer he wanted without Windows.
The reason is simple :
Apple has to deal with Orange (France Telecom) because Orange has half of the cellphone market in France, the best network and coverage…
Anyway there’s no rush for french people (or european) to buy an iphone, because in europe we have 3G and 3G+ and Iphone is not ready for that…
So why buy an I phone 400 Euros if you can’t use it with the new 3G system….
Raphaël,Paris, France