Apple prices unlocked iPhones at 749 euros in France
Apple and wireless partner Orange will launch iPhone in France later today, offering customers three distinct pricing options for the handset, including a fully unlocked and carrier independent version for 749 euros ($1105).
Since the announcement of its arrival in France last month, iPhone has already attracted interest from more than 63,000 fans who have registered on Orange's iPhone website, the carrier said in a statement Wednesday.
The final iPhone launch of the year will kick-off at 6:30 p.m. local time, at which time OrangeÂ*will be holding late-night openings at 12 of its stores, including locations in Bordeaux, Lille, Lyons, Marseilles, Montpellier, Nancy, Nice, Nantes, Rennes, Strasbourg and Toulouse.
In Paris, Orange will also use the launch of the Apple handset to inaugurate its brand new store at 125, avenue des Champs-Elysées -- France's most prestigious and broadest shopping strip.
As the exclusive carrier for iPhone in France, Orange says it has developed a range of four "Orange for iPhone" plans designed to let customers make the most of the touch-screen handset that combines three devices into one -- a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and a Internet browser.
The entry level plan starts at 49 euros per month and includes 2 hours of normal talk time, 2 hours of late evening and weekend minutes, and 50 SMS text messages. The most expensive plan is priced at 119 euros and includes 8 hours of normal talk time, 8 hours of nights and weekends, and 1000 SMS messages.
All plans include unlimited access to email and the internet, as well as visual voicemail, which allows users to see a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to previous messages.
Pricing for the iPhone handset itself will start at 399 euros ($589) for a version tied to the Orange network with a two-year service contract and an "Orange for iPhone" plan, or 549 euros ($810) for a model without one of the iPhone plans, but still tied to the network.
A third and final version will sell for 649 euros ($958) and not require an Orange plan or contract, though the carrier along with Apple is also charging a 100 euro ($147.5) fee, which brings the cost of a fully unlocked and carrier independent iPhone up to 749 euros (or approximately $1105).
Update: After the first six months, French law requires that unlocking be provided free to consumers. Therefore, after six months, the cost of a fully unlocked iPhone will effectively be 649 euros. Customers who purchase a locked iPhone from Orange in the first six months should also be able to walk into any Orange shop after the six month period and have their phone unlocked for free.
Since the announcement of its arrival in France last month, iPhone has already attracted interest from more than 63,000 fans who have registered on Orange's iPhone website, the carrier said in a statement Wednesday.
The final iPhone launch of the year will kick-off at 6:30 p.m. local time, at which time OrangeÂ*will be holding late-night openings at 12 of its stores, including locations in Bordeaux, Lille, Lyons, Marseilles, Montpellier, Nancy, Nice, Nantes, Rennes, Strasbourg and Toulouse.
In Paris, Orange will also use the launch of the Apple handset to inaugurate its brand new store at 125, avenue des Champs-Elysées -- France's most prestigious and broadest shopping strip.
As the exclusive carrier for iPhone in France, Orange says it has developed a range of four "Orange for iPhone" plans designed to let customers make the most of the touch-screen handset that combines three devices into one -- a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and a Internet browser.
The entry level plan starts at 49 euros per month and includes 2 hours of normal talk time, 2 hours of late evening and weekend minutes, and 50 SMS text messages. The most expensive plan is priced at 119 euros and includes 8 hours of normal talk time, 8 hours of nights and weekends, and 1000 SMS messages.
All plans include unlimited access to email and the internet, as well as visual voicemail, which allows users to see a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to previous messages.
Pricing for the iPhone handset itself will start at 399 euros ($589) for a version tied to the Orange network with a two-year service contract and an "Orange for iPhone" plan, or 549 euros ($810) for a model without one of the iPhone plans, but still tied to the network.
A third and final version will sell for 649 euros ($958) and not require an Orange plan or contract, though the carrier along with Apple is also charging a 100 euro ($147.5) fee, which brings the cost of a fully unlocked and carrier independent iPhone up to 749 euros (or approximately $1105).
Update: After the first six months, French law requires that unlocking be provided free to consumers. Therefore, after six months, the cost of a fully unlocked iPhone will effectively be 649 euros. Customers who purchase a locked iPhone from Orange in the first six months should also be able to walk into any Orange shop after the six month period and have their phone unlocked for free.
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A third and final version will sell for 649 euros ($958) and not require an Orange plan or contract, though the carrier along with Apple is also charging a 100 euro ($147.5) fee, which brings the cost of a fully unlocked and carrier independent iPhone up to 749 euros (or approximately $1105).
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Are you sure about that? I think 649 euros is the final price for a completely unlocked iphone.
Interesting that it is available with a plan and without and then non network specific, at a reasonable price compared to Germany.
The entry level plan starts at 49 euros per month and includes 2 hours of normal talk time, 2 hours of late evening and weekend minutes, and 50 SMS text messages. The most expensive plan is priced at 119 euros and includes 8 hours of normal talk time, 8 hours of nights and weekends, and 1000 SMS messages.
Um, that's 2 hours of normal/evening talk time per day, right? I'm used to seeing these numbers per month.
Um, that's 2 hours of normal/evening talk time per day, right? I'm used to seeing these numbers per month.
Nope that is per month additional minutes are 0.37 Euro ATAN. Quite stingy on the hotspots as well (10h unless you go for the 119er) and "fair-use" is capped at 500 MB, which isnt that much. A bit of wireless shopping on ITS and your data allowance is gone especially when you d/l an Itunes Plus Album....
The original posting is erroneous in the sense though that for 649 Euro you have to bring your own Orange SIM (ie existing contract you wish NOT to renew or pre-paid)
For 749 you get the beauty completely free/unlocked.
"With this range of dedicated offers, Orange is meeting iPhone customer expectations in terms of voice, sms & wifi, with prices ranging from EUR49 to EUR119 euros per month, and the iPhone available for EUR399.
Orange is also offering iPhone at EUR549 to customers who do not wish to benefit from one of the four "Orange for iPhone" plans and at EUR649, without a plan. The cost of unlocking the handset*is 100 euros during*the six months following the acquisition of the iPhone, regardless of the package chosen."
The whole thing is very confusing...
K
Time for Apple to come clean on a global unlock strategy / pricing structure?
I can't wait to hear the EU commission on this one... same unlocked product in Germany costing 250 Euros more than in France... ohhh there will be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth
Time for Apple to come clean on a global unlock strategy / pricing structure?
Naa - Commission wont intervene or comment. Phone is available free, there is a price difference of 250 Euro - big deal. Now that is one of the advantages of the single market : Now I can take a High-Speed Train from Germany to France for a 10er each way and blast the 250 Euro delta on a night out in Paris
That, my dearest, is free market economy
I believe we have the pricing correct, however the Orange press release is worded extremely poorly -- likely to hide the high cost of the fully unlocked phone. I'm going to continue to look into this, though I've just been told the Associated Press is also reading it and reporting it as 749 euros. FWIW, here is the original text from the Orange press release:
"With this range of dedicated offers, Orange is meeting iPhone customer expectations in terms of voice, sms & wifi, with prices ranging from EUR49 to EUR119 euros per month, and the iPhone available for EUR399.
Orange is also offering iPhone at EUR549 to customers who do not wish to benefit from one of the four "Orange for iPhone" plans and at EUR649, without a plan. The cost of unlocking the handset*is 100 euros during*the six months following the acquisition of the iPhone, regardless of the package chosen."
The whole thing is very confusing...
K
zzzzeeyyy aarrree froinch an' 'ave difficultees avec zee english language
I've never owned a cell phone outside of Japan, so all these plans and rates and data are so confusing to me. It's very simple here, at least it seems so in comparison.
1100 bucks for a phone? Jeez Apple...
Is it just me or are any of those possible prices listed above INSANE? Are people really paying well over a $1,000 USD for an iPhone?
No, they're only paying that price if they want the phone to be unlocked (presumably so they can use it with a different carrier.)
This comes as no surprise. Locked phones are less expensive because the carriers subsidize the cost from your monthly service fees. Take a look at other smartphones for comparison:
AT&T sells a Motorola Q Global for $200, locked with a 2 year contract. A Google search shows a $570 price to get an unlocked version of the same phone - a 185% price increase.
AT&T sells a locked Samsung Blackjack II for $150. Google shows unlocked ones selling for $400-500 - a 166-233% increase.
AT&T's price for a locked Blackberry Curve 8310 is $200. Unlocked, they go for $450-610 - a 125-205% increase.
So when Orange offers an unlocked iPhone for ?750 - an 87% increase from the ?400 they charge for the locked model, that actually sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Even T-mobile Germany's ?1000 price (a 150% increase from the ?400 price for the locked model) is in-line with apparent industry standards.
I think France will see an influx of German unlocked-iPhone shoppers.
Yup - that's the way we like to save money. Spend 250 Euro on a weekend in Paris to save 250 Euro on an iPhone. Vive la France and ze french and german friendship !
1100 bucks for a phone? Jeez Apple...
Prices like that can cause the French youth to RIOT, oh wait...
Now what's all this about some phone thingy?
Yup - that's the way we like to save money. Spend 250 Euro on a weekend in Paris to save 250 Euro on an iPhone. Vive la France and ze french and german friendship !
It's certainly a possibility for all those who live on the border.
From Freiburg to Colmar is a short 30 minute drive, from Trier to Longwy is a short hop, Strasbourg (F) can also draw a bunch of people, from Kehl most notably.
Furthermore, the workforce around these parts is very mobile, lots of French working in Germany, Switzerland, and vice versa too.
So I doubt that a "Berliner" (thanks JFK for that sausage reference) would make the trip to Paris, but a few thousand people, even from as far as Frankfurt, are liable to make the trip, which is both pleasant, and fast on [5] outside of the times during which the autobahn is congested.
And I would gather that the person you were responding to is from Belgium (from his moniker) so give him at least credit for knowing his European geography and the habits of European shoppers better than most outsiders. Brussels - Paris using the T.G.V. might be shorter, time wise, than you daily commute, and comes at less than 250 Euros...
[Last Edit] OK, I'm the dummy, BRUssell lives in Germany. Wait, that makes him even more knowlegeable!
[Last last Edit] Darn, you're from Belgium, and from your locational description, I'd say Flemish. So you should know that what BRussell is saying is true
Man, I'm glad I'm not French.
Now what's all this about some phone thingy?
Don't think you deserve to be
Don't think you deserve to be
I'm pleased to say that's true.