iPhone 3G selling in France without a contract

When Apple was thinking about selling the iPhone 3G in France, they elected to go with Orange as the exclusive carrier, however the problem is France prohibits carriers to extend this lock longer than a six month period.

In addition to this limitation French service provider Bouygues Telecom SA, filed a complaint with the Competition Council about that agreement back in September. The Competition Council reached a decision earlier this month in which any French carrier would be able to offer the iPhone 3G if they so choose.

Bouygues Telecom and SFR still have yet to begin selling the iPhone 3G as FNAC has. From what we hear the iPhone 3G that FNAC is selling is an unlocked version, but we are still unclear. For now you can pick up the 8GB version for of €799 ($1,122USD), in France, or the 16BG version for €899 ($1,262USS).