L’iPhone est en France ce soir

Bonjour mes amis! Finally, the iPhone comes to another country where I can legitimately speak the language. I mean, I don’t know German, and let’s not even get started on those UK chaps. I mean, come on: speak American, will ya?

Anyway, the official launch of the iPhone in France is happening tonight, with 10 Orange stores staying open late to offer the device, starting at 6:30PM local time. The phone, as we know, will retail for €399, but we now have more news on what the phone plans will cost. They start at €49 per month for a two-year contract (signing up for one year will cost you €4.50 more a month): that includes four hours of talk time, 50 text messages, and 10 hours of access to Orange hot spots, as well as Visual Voicemail and “unlimited” data access (there are some restrictions, including a warning from Orange that they might cap data transfer at 500MB a month). There are three more plans, with the most expensive being €119 a month, which includes 16 hours of talk time, 1000 text messages, and 100 hours of Wi-Fi access. Those prices might seem a little bit on the high side for what you get, but remember that most European users don’t pay for incoming calls, just outgoing.

But the real hubbub is about unlocked phones. According to Orange, buying an unlocked phone is an option, but it’ll cost you: €649. Cheaper, certainly, then T-Mobile’s option of €999, but still a premium. If you buy your phone and sign up for an Orange contract, they’ll unlock it for you too, though it’ll cost €100 if you do so in the first six months; after that, French law requires them to do it for free.

Orange CEO Didier Lombard was bullish on the prospects of the iPhone, saying earlier in the week that they were targeting sales of between 50,000 and 100,000 by the end of the year.

Category: News

Posted by Dan Moren on Nov 28 2007, 10:40 AM ET

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