Over the past month, problems had been on the horizon for Apple in its French market due to a new bill described by Apple as "state-sponsored piracy." But despite the feeling of lost hope from Cupertino, a new minor amendment to the bill may provide Apple with a nice loophole that may save them from quitting the French market.
The loophole basically states that Apple or even Microsoft for that matter would be permitted to sell songs in its closed proprietary format providing that Apple secures written permission from copyright holders.
Though this initial news is great for Apple, celebration now may be fairly premature in that the French culture minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres is still determined to ensure that music downloads are compatible with all music players.
Though Apple is presently in control of the online music market, a French government official told the Associated Press: "The government"s position is to favour interoperability come what may," the official said. "That is not going to depend on deals with iTunes."
Only time will tell if the cards play in Apple"s favor.