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A French competition watchdog is trying to suspend a deal between Apple and  No. 1 mobile operator Orange run by France Telecom. which will distribute the Iphone exclusively in France, an executive told a French newspaper.

Executive Director Jean-Yves Larrouturou told La Tribune that suspension of the deal with will not impact France Telecom’s end-of-year financial figures.

But he said the decision challenges the group’s investment plans, which were based on an exclusivity deal of three years with a possible two-year extension.

The Competition Council’s decision announced on Wednesday wants to allow customers to buy the Iphone with a contract from rival service providers SFR and Bouygues Telecom in time for the Christmas.

France Telecom has said it intended to appeal against the decision as it placed France in a different position than Britain, Germany and Spain, where Apple has also struck exclusivity deals.

The council said that this five-year exclusive deal with Apple was “clearly excessive” and risked “serious and immediate damage to competition on the mobile market and to consumers”.

Wasn’t this the same exclusivity distribution methods Apple was complaining about Microsoft and IBM back in the day?  It seems being a hypocrit pays big nowadays.  I’m just curious why we are not hearing about antitrust suits against Apple like it happened with Microsoft.
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