Today, the french law-makers voted [1] a law that will force Apple and Sony to open its DRM technology. A move that the company is not expected to make.

However, the law still has to be approved by the french senators so as to be effective, the approval will take place in May. This gives Apple the time think on how it will react to the new law but there are few chances that this law is disapproved by senators (details in this Google-translated blog posting [2]).

Analysts have already given their opinion [3] on the subject. They expect Apple to drop its iTunes Music Store in France as it should represent about 2% of worldwide iTunes sales.

The law also consists of giving fines to downloaders and to those who crack copy-protection systems. For example, it will not be allowed to copy a DVD-movie in France, even for personnal use, as most of these DVDs are copy-protected.

UPDATE: Apple has commented [4] on the vote of the new french law. The company claims that the new law will plummet online sales and that piracy is going to grow. It also says that it could make iPod sales increase. We're not sure they say what they're really thinking though.