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It's official. France Telecom's Orange will be the sole provider if the iPhone to the French people, becoming the third European mobile operator to commit to Apple’s smartphone.

Orange will start offering the iPhone, the 8GB edition of course, on November 29th for €399 including V.A.T. Both O2 in Britain and T-Mobile in Germany plan on become the first mobile operators to deliver the iPhone in Europe on November 9th.

It would seem, although it can't be said for sure, that the carrier and Apple have somehow successfully circumvented French telecommunications laws that requires mobile phones be unlocked and not tied to a single mobile operator.

Update: It appears Orange will offer both a locke iPhone for the price listed above and an unlocked edition for an undisclosed premium. This is apparently the compromise Apple and Orange came up with the circumvent French law.

I wonder how all the consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere who unlocked their iPhones from AT&T only to have Apple brick them a few weeks ago feel about this.

Today's announcement confirms what France Telecom's CEO Didier said back in September, which was that the iPhone would become available before Christmas, probably in November. Not the official confirmation received today.

Whereas American iPhone users had to upgrade to gain access to Apple’s iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, European customers won't, as it'll be pre-installed.

With it, they'll be able to browse, search, preview, purchase and download songs and albums from iTunes over the built-in Wi-Fi on their iPhone. Once they connect their iPhone back to their PC or Mac, downloaded music will automatically sync back into their iTunes library.