The French Competition Council announced that the agreement between Apple Inc. and France Telecom has been suspended. According to the deal, the company’s iPhone 3G, which recorded massive success all over the world, was available exclusively for Orange’s customers.

France Telecom released a statement yesterday, announcing that it will appeal the decision, as it "places France in a radically different position" than Spain, Britain and Germany, countries where Apple managed to struck exclusivity deals for the iPhone. This is, after all, Apple’s strategy, as the company is always looking for a partner capable of covering a new market’s entire needs.

The problem with the upcoming appeal is that the in-depth examination of the agreement and all the other measures needed for such a complex case will demand over one year of work. Unfortunately for France Telecom, there is no quick fix and it is a well known fact that the advancements in this industry happen ‘by the hour,’ so the iPhone’s appeal might be significantly lower than it is today; still, if the appeal will be successful, it should include some certainties about the exclusivity on Apple’s upcoming devices, which might make the whole process worthwhile.

The council explained in a recent statement the reasons for the decision, as the five-year exclusive deal with Apple was considered "clearly excessive" and risked "serious and immediate damage to competition on the mobile market and to consumers".

From this point on, the French iPhone enthusiasts will also be able to purchase the device from rival operators SFR and Bouygues Telecom.

SFR, which is owned by Vivendi SA and the British Vodafone Group, announced through its spokesman that the iPhone will be available extremely soon. The company is looking to get as many of its stores as possible ready for the holiday season and cash in on the massive popularity of Apple’s device.
"We are going to contact Apple to set up a distribution contract," explained the spokesman.

Bouygues Telecom, the country’s no 3 mobile operator and a unit of Bouygues SA, is actually the reason for this whole situation, as the company’s officials filed a complaint on September 18 against Apple’s deal. Its representatives announced that they hope to begin selling the iPhone as soon as possible, also looking to get a piece of the holiday sales.

The council is looking to install a rule about these exclusivity contracts, and announced that from now on the longest period for exclusivity contracts with operators for future models will be of around 3 months, in order to allow a fair competition among market players and ensure that the public has more than one choice.

France Telecom announced that the total sales recorded so far for the new 3G iPhone passed the 450,000 unit bar, which represents a big success for both companies. With the phone now out in the open, new data plans and offers will surely be presented in order to attract customers.