The French iPhone is finally free! Unfortunately, freedom always seems to come for a price. No, it's not time for a history lesson, despite the fact history seems to repeat itself despite the fact we're talking about politics, wars, or gadgets. Just look at the free French iPhone!

What about it? Well, just think about being able to buy a good laptop computer for its price, and that should say it all! While Apple had to comply with a recent ruling of French regulators, those who want to purchase the iPhone 3G without signing any service contract with the local Apple carrier, Orange, will have to pay up to almost $1,300 for their freedom!
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According to MacNN, FNAC is now selling the contract-free iPhone 3G, going as high as €799 ($1,123), for the 8GB version, while the 16B models are priced at €899 ($1,263)! The same source also mentioned that, similar options in Belgium are priced at half the French prices - only €529 and €619.

As I was saying, instead of the free French iPhone, I would use my freedom of choice and grab some decent notebook. To make things straight, the free French iPhone is nothing more but a rip-off and a kick in the back targeting those consumers who had some hopes of being able to have an iPhone without any strings attached...

As you know already, the upcoming MacWorld Expo, taking place between the 5th and 9th of January, is going to be a sad one, with Apple's last edition, and a very limited presence from Adobe. Nevertheless, there's a giant still interested in this event, and we're talking about no other than the almighty Google!

Obviously, there are still some surprises they are preparing for those lucky enough to take part in next year's event, but here's what the official Google Mac Blog says:

"At any given time, there will be plenty of Googlers at our booth available to answer questions about any Google software made for Mac or iPhone. Demo stations will be placed throughout the booth so that attendees can try out Google software on their own, and in many cases, talk to the people who helped create that software.
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Additionally, there will be larger presentations in the booth each day covering specific topics in more depth. Our goal is to make these presentations as interactive as possible, so we are hoping for feedback from Macworld attendees in the booth on the topics they'd like to see discussed."

These being said, I will add that the Google countdown to MacWorld Expo clock is ticking, as there are only 7 days remaining until the opening day. Just one more time - if you can be there, don't hesitate and DO IT - go, check all the interesting things around, and maybe even come back here and drop some comments! :)

Since 2008's Christmas is now a memory for all of us, I guess the time's just right for some Christmas statistics, don't you agree? After all, that's what everyone was expecting to see - strong Christmas sales, despite the global recession, and that's what happened, at least for some retailers, and Apple is - as usual - one of the lucky ones, although it's always more than just luck, when talking about them...

..and this time, Apple's hard work in the last years, especially in the marketing field, had a really nice crop - solid sales in the iPod area, as well as a real explosion of App Store sales, as a direct consequence of the increased number of iPods ready to be shaken & touched around!
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When talking about the iPods, I guess it's enough to say that the 8 and 16 GB iPod Touch are Amazon's best sellers, despite their price, while most App Store titles saw their sales figures going 3 to 4 times higher than usual. Now, that's what Apple can really call "a Merry Christmas," right?

If I would be in Steve Jobs' place, I would simply step up and say "my doctor gave me one more year to live, and my replacement is going to be Mr. X," just to stop all those silly rumors floating around. Of course that this may lead to a little drop of the company's shares, but that's just a thought, since Steve Jobs seems to be OK, but rumors keep popping up here and there...

...and one of the favorite topics in the last few months was "Who can replace Steve Jobs?," with a bunch of people lined up in "waiting lists" already. For example, MacNewsWorld's Troy Wolverton has the following candidates:

• Phil Schiller, 48, Senior vice president, worldwide product marketing
• Tim Cook, 48, Chief operating officer
• Ron Johnson, 50, Senior vice president, retail
• Bill Campbell, 68, Co-lead director at Apple and chairman of Intuit

Fortunately, he's not into rumors, since his article starts by saying that "Gossip and speculation aside, there's no reason to assume Apple CEO Steve Jobs will retire any time soon. But it's inevitable that at some point in the future, he will no longer helm the company he created."

At last, we should also note that Steve Jobs managed to grab an impressive 90 percent approval rating on GlassDoor, a site that lets employees anonymously review their employers and share salary information. This is simply impressive, and it seems the next Apple CEO will have face two major challenges - on the outside, to keep the customers happy, but even harder, he'll have to maintain a good relationship with the company's employees.

Did you get some iPhone or iPod Touch for Christmas? I hope you got a genuine Apple product, if your answer is positive! While iPhone and iPod clones are more likely to be encountered than Mac clones, they are also trying to copy the design of the original, first of all, while the computers able to run Mac OS X are more about the works, than the looks. Anyway, today we'll leave those Mac clones aside, since there's some new iPhone news just around the corner!

Looking at what we have here, the first thing to point out is the availability in nearly 2,500 Wal-mart stores of the Apple 8GB iPhone, for $197, and the 16GB one, for $297, both with a new two-year service agreement from AT&T - or a qualified upgrade, of course.
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"We are delighted to bring customers this ground-breaking mobile technology. Our electronics associates have been preparing for many weeks for the arrival of iPhone 3G. We are excited to now help new customers learn more about the features and services that make the iPhone unique,"said Gary Severson, senior vice president, Entertainment, Walmart.

Next, we have the iPhone Nanos spotted in Thailand by some AppleInsider reader. Unfortunately, we're talking about fakes, but they are "designed to mimic Apple's products as closely as possible and share not only the basic design but the branding as well, in some cases directly copying the logo and the "iPhone" labeling on the back."

Needless to say that the software is also a clone of the one available with Apple's original iPhone and iPod Touch, so if you're into cheap clones, you can get an iPhone Nano already, although I wouldn't advise you to do that...