Apple is learning quickly how different the European mobile phone market is, according to C|Net on Thursday. Last minute changes to pricing plans don't appear to have been part of the original plan.

Orange now offers three different pricing plans ranging from €399 to €649, (US$592 to $964), depending on the monthly plan, or no plan at all on the high end. Because French law requires carriers to offer an unlocked version, customers can pay extra to have it unlocked -- or wait six months when it can be used with another carrier and unlocked for free.

The nest result is that French customers who want an unlocked phone form Orange today will pay US$1112.77 at current exchange rates, a bargain compared to the charge in Germany of just under $1500.

A side effect of all this is that German customers could drive across the border into France and buy a much cheaper unlocked iPhone and use it with any carrier back home.

Tom Krazit in his observation of this disarray doesn't think that Apple anticipated the Vodafone lawsuit and other difficulties it would face in Europe. He chalked it up to inexperience. While Apple may have sought and obtained sweet deals with the mobile operators in Europe, the other details have created a minefield for Apple.

"A strategy that works in this country won't necessarily work in other places; just ask Dell, Disney, or the National Football League," Mr. Krazit wrote.