Crazy like a fox?

Apple's iPhone Is Launched In France, Via Vietnam -- iPhone -- InformationWeek

Steve Jobs has taken a lot of heat for releasing Apple's iPhone in Europe without 3G. Crazy, right? I'm not so sure. The hype surrounding the phone has allowed Apple to broker arrangements that might otherwise be considered unheard of:

The iPhone operates on Edge data networks, which are slow, so the availability of Wi-fi which the phone also can use for Internet access, is important to users. France Telecom's embrace of the iPhone would seem to be a marriage made in heaven, because the service provider has more than 2,000 paid Wi-Fi hotspots in Paris alone. In addition there are several hundred more Wi-Fi hotspots -- many of them offered by the city for free. France Telecom and the city of Paris have been squabbling over the free sites.

At the iPhone's unveiling in Berlin, exclusive German provider Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile trumpeted its 8,500-plus Wi-Fi hotspots. In the U.K, Wi-Fi is needed even more as exclusive iPhone service provider O2 can cover just an estimated 30 % of the U.K. population. Apple and O2 have forged an arrangement with Wi-Fi provider the Cloud for iPhone subscribers to use its 7,500 U.K. hotspots.

Can you imagine any of those mobile companies agreeing independently to allow that sort of access to wifi networks? Apple is changing the game even more than it first appears by forcing these two very separate business lines (mobile plus wifi providers) together - and passing that combination on to the customer with a product that will provide longer battery life - and generally faster connections (because of the wifi deals) than any of its rivals - with a better form factor.

What would Apple truly have gained by moving down the 3G route at this time? It appears to me they've scored a coup that benefits both Apple and the consumers. Now if only T-Mobile had reached a deal with Apple in the US...all those hot spots!