Formerly, Apple mostly relied on external third party or Apple US/PAC modems designed specifically for these countries or regions; in France there was legacy of contracting local modem makers to design or build Apple branded modems (Sectrad, Hello, or Solectron Bordeaux for the Newton modem).
But when Apple designed the first Portable/PowerBook, a worldwide design team was created internally to handle the different telecom regulations in Europe. So the European Research & Development center (ERD) was created in Le Pecq near Paris, to design most of the worldwide modems and software needed for the Macs and PowerBooks (the internal 2400 PowerBook modem, the different Express Modem boards and soft engine, the Geoport Telecom Adapter pod, but also the French AppleDjinn and Djinn Pro or the 33.6k CommSlot modem, the PowerBop wireless CT2 hardware module, the Apple Telecom software 1/2/3 and scripts or the never released Apple Telecom 3.5 suite, the never release all-in-one Paladdin Mac communications suite...)
When Apple decided back to outsource all internal modems boards to Asante, Global Village, then Ambit on the PowerBook G3 Series and iMac, the whole european engineering team was fired, and the offices were closed. But I was friend with several wiz(es) from there, and I was invited when they were abandoning the site. So I could save some units from the bin, including early development units and boards.
The remainder came from the different Apple friends I had in Europe, who all knew I was a fan of such type of products. Like the early IIGS white keyboard (fitted with two female ADB ports).
But when Apple designed the first Portable/PowerBook, a worldwide design team was created internally to handle the different telecom regulations in Europe. So the European Research & Development center (ERD) was created in Le Pecq near Paris, to design most of the worldwide modems and software needed for the Macs and PowerBooks (the internal 2400 PowerBook modem, the different Express Modem boards and soft engine, the Geoport Telecom Adapter pod, but also the French AppleDjinn and Djinn Pro or the 33.6k CommSlot modem, the PowerBop wireless CT2 hardware module, the Apple Telecom software 1/2/3 and scripts or the never released Apple Telecom 3.5 suite, the never release all-in-one Paladdin Mac communications suite...)
When Apple decided back to outsource all internal modems boards to Asante, Global Village, then Ambit on the PowerBook G3 Series and iMac, the whole european engineering team was fired, and the offices were closed. But I was friend with several wiz(es) from there, and I was invited when they were abandoning the site. So I could save some units from the bin, including early development units and boards.
The remainder came from the different Apple friends I had in Europe, who all knew I was a fan of such type of products. Like the early IIGS white keyboard (fitted with two female ADB ports).