Apple, Orange to unleash iPhone in France on Nov. 29

[AppleInsider]

Apple and Orange jointly announced Tuesday that Orange, the leading wireless carrier in France, will be the exclusive French carrier partner for the iPhone when it makes its local debut on Thursday, November 29.

The two companies were widely expect announce plans for the Apple handset's French debut last month, but last minute disputes regarding both French law and the percentage of service revenues Orange would have to give to Apple spurred fears that the two parties would be unable to come to terms ahead of the holiday shopping season.

“The iPhone is a marvelous product and will change how people think about mobile. I’m delighted that it is launching in France through Orange, and I’m sure that our customers share my excitement," said Didier Lombard, CEO of France Telecom, which owns the Orange brand. "Our partnership with Apple is a natural fit because we are two global brands who share the same values of simplicity and innovation. It’s going to be a very merry Christmas for Orange customers all over the country!”

iPhone is scheduled to go on sale on November 29 and will be sold in France through Orange’s online and direct retail stores. It's unclear whether the handset will be offered for sale via Apple's local online store. The Apple handset will be available in an 8GB model for €399 including V.A.T. for any subscription to one of the dedicated rate plans and will work with either a PC or Mac.

As is the case with the US version of iPhone, activation will require an Internet connection; an iTunes Store account; the latest version of iTunes available at www.itunes.fr and a PC or Mac with a USB 2.0 port and one of the following operating systems: Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later; Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later; or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise or Ultimate Edition.

iPhone will also launch in two other European countries -- the U.K. and Germany -- on November 9th.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[mbaynham]

must be a consolation for france after england kicked them out of the rugby world cup haha!

[Joe_the_dragon]

How are they getting around the law that forces the phone to be unlocked?

[freelander51]

It will be interesting to see what the "unlocked" price will be as the french law WILL oblige both Apple and Orange to sell a stand alone version without operator ties. Rumours have it that an unlocked phone will be sold at an extortionate 999 Euro (1350 $ at least).

[artman1033]

According to Forbes.com Orange will give aapl 30% of revenues, plus it implies an unlocked version must be sold in France www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/200...fx4223909.html

[freelander51]

Originally Posted by artman1033

According to Forbes.com Orange will give aapl 30% of revenues, plus it implies an unlocked version must be sold in France www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/200...fx4223909.html

The french consumer watchdog is sharpening the knives as we write these messages, shall they not oblige.
30% is quite a good revenue stream when you think about it. At an average price of (say) 50 euro before taxes (that would be 65$ at least), this would equate to 18$/month per customer or (say) roundabout 200$/year/customer. French contracts are typically two year ones => 400$/customer on top for Apple.

I was not that far of the mark then when i suggested a RRP (unlocked) of 999 Euro (minus VAT = 800=>1050$).

I wonder what the (Greg) Munster-man will make of this....

[freelander51]

Originally Posted by mbaynham

must be a consolation for france after england kicked them out of the rugby world cup haha!

Mate - that was Johnny Wilkinson -single handed- who kicked them out

[MacTel]

I wonder what percentage Orange is giving Apple. ;-)

[MacTel]

Originally Posted by Joe_the_dragon

How are they getting around the law that forces the phone to be unlocked?

I'm sure they could double the price of the handsets and then Orange would offer a rebate for locking into their service. That would certainly turn many away.

[jonnyb]

"Our partnership with Apple is a natural fit because we are two global brands who share the same values of simplicity and innovation"

What, I therefore wonder, stopped Orange and Apple being a natural fit in the UK...?

[waytogobuddy]

Canada for Christmas,
Or my Looney is going to Boston (and the iphone dev team)

[SpamSandwich]

Sacré bleu!

[Charko]

That's quite a big new market for the iPhone in November.

The combined population of Germany, France and the U.K. is just over 200 million.

[Charko]

....... added to the population of the USA, the iPhone will then be available to half a billion people!

[JakeTheRock]

Really, any law-knowledgeable people able to tellus how they might get around that law? Or do they not mind about the law?

[JakeTheRock]

I wonder what ZO has to say about this?

[freelander51]

Originally Posted by JakeTheRock

Really, any law-knowledgeable people able to tellus how they might get around that law? Or do they not mind about the law?

The law does not stipulate that you have to sell at the same price. The law just states that you HAVE to offer it s stand-alone. 999 Euro should be about right. It's aclled respecting the law but not living the law

[igazza]

that is good for the french and apple they will sell lots of phones. i want to know when its coming to australia.

[Buck]

What bothers me personally is that we'll probably see another firmware update on the 9th and then (maybe) on the 29th to accomodate those new providers. That means all of jailbreaking efforts have gone to waste, again.

[shetline]

It'll also be interesting to see how much it'll cost to get an unlocked iPhone shipped from France (or from whatever other countries unlocked iPhones eventually appear in) to the US.

By the time that there's a 3G iPhone 2, I'll be interested in this.

[JupiterOne]

Just curious, but do these other official carriers offer Visual Voice Mail too? Have they also made changes to their network?

[drjjones]

Originally Posted by MacTel

I wonder what percentage Orange is giving Apple. ;-)

It has been reported at 30 percent, that Apple gets from Orange ; and unlocked phones are 999 euros or 1418 dollars.

[palegolas]

With the iPhone Apple is really stretching it... I'm sure they'll try stretch it as far as it goes in terms of revenue. But in the end they must draw a line between what will benefit Apple in terms of control and revenue and what's hurting the brand and reputation...

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by Buck

What bothers me personally is that we'll probably see another firmware update on the 9th and then (maybe) on the 29th to accomodate those new providers. That means all of jailbreaking efforts have gone to waste, again.

I don't think it bothers 99% of current or potential iPhone users. And therefore, not Apple either.

Give up.

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by JupiterOne

Just curious, but do these other official carriers offer Visual Voice Mail too? Have they also made changes to their network?

Why would visual vm require changes to the networks?

[ZO]

Originally Posted by JakeTheRock

I wonder what ZO has to say about this?

Surprised it's coming out this year

Other than that, I'm pretty sure we'll know in the next few days from macbidouille.com (they have excellent sources all over the place in France) what the deal will be with forced unlock in 6 months, etc etc.

All I really wonder now is if I can register my US bought iPhone with Orange (since I'm already using them) so I don't really need to fret about the whole unlocking crap.

[ZO]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

Why would visual vm require changes to the networks?

Because the servers and such need to be up to date and specifically tuned to work with iPhone.. it's a server side enhancement, otherwise we woulda had VVM a long time ago and you'd be seeing it on other handsets as well...

[ascii]

Cool. I heard the French iPhone plan comes with 900 talk minutes, 200 SMS, and 2000 surrender minutes (which can only be used when calling someone to surrender to them). Sacrebleu!

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by freelander51

It will be interesting to see what the "unlocked" price will be as the french law WILL oblige both Apple and Orange to sell a stand alone version without operator ties. Rumours have it that an unlocked phone will be sold at an extortionate 999 Euro (1350 $ at least).

I'm guessing 749 Euros with Orange offering a rebate of some sort (payable by Apple) for signing-up with Orange.

Originally Posted by Charko

That's quite a big new market for the iPhone in November.
The combined population of Germany, France and the U.K. is just over 200 million.

Originally Posted by Charko

....... added to the population of the USA, the iPhone will then be available to half a billion people!

But what is the combined population of AT&T in the US, O2 in the UK, T-Mobile in Germany, and Orange in France. That is the what we need to look at. Very few are unlocking their phones to take to other carriers and Apple will undoubtedly make it more financially beneficial for the customer to take the French iPhone to Orange.

Originally Posted by freelander51

The law does not stipulate that you have to sell at the same price. The law just states that you HAVE to offer it s stand-alone. 999 Euro should be about right. It's aclled respecting the law but not living the law

Can Apple sell the iPhone unlocked in France but clearly state on the box that support for the iPhone--I don't mean H/W warranty--is only available when paired with an Orange contract?

Originally Posted by Buck

What bothers me personally is that we'll probably see another firmware update on the 9th and then (maybe) on the 29th to accomodate those new providers. That means all of jailbreaking efforts have gone to waste, again.

BOO HOO!!!

Originally Posted by JupiterOne

Just curious, but do these other official carriers offer Visual Voice Mail too? Have they also made changes to their network?

Yes, they have made the changes. I'm looking forward to more carrier-manufacturer integration to come online. That will help keep Apple's carrier revenue up.