Orange Announces iPhone France and Unlocking Options

[nja247]

Even OPEC said it would be ridiculous to switch away from the dollar and woulndn't happen. Taking any thing Hugo Chavez or Ahmadenijiad seriously isn't really a good plan.

We saw what happened to Iraq when they went with Euros vs Dollars. Though I'm not implying that's why things happened -- just saying. Anyhow how does any of this have to do with the phone ? lol.

 

[Lycanthrope]

An unlocked phone is an unlocked phone and should work with any SIM from any country. Can be that because Apple are new to the mobile market there are bugs in the firmware that stop some SIM's working properly. As more unlocked phones are sold and permeate throughout Europe they will have to fix this or lose even more credibility.

If T-Mobile want to sell unlocked phones then they will have to drop the price, no way will people in Germany buy them when they can get for 250EUR less in France. Can be that they don't want to sell them of course and they just set the price high to comply with the law.

It would be quite funny if the bulk of the sales in France are unlocked phones

I work for a very large Belgian telco...

 

[morespce54]

...It would be quite funny if the bulk of the sales in France are unlocked phones

Indeed! Imagine peoples from Germany buying French iPhone and getting on a the cheapest T-Mobile (German) package...
i wonder what would be the reactions of both Apple and T-Mobile (German)...

 

[apachie2k]

the whole world will be buying from france for unlocked phones, while the price is very high, it's still attainable for some...

 

[Nym]

Is it my feeling or the iPhone is giving Apple a whole lot of problems?

I must say, if the legally unlocked iPhone doesn't work with every sim card available then Apple will face some consequences.
Aside lawsuits, I think the most important thing is that Apple is pretty much seen as a premium high quality brand in most European countries and if the problems start to appear even before the iPhone reaches some countries (like mine, Portugal) it's going to kill a lot of first month sales because of the negative buzz, besides, the tech informed people will start doubting Apple's quality regarding cellphones and just go and buy a "safer choice" brand (nokia, SE, samsung, LG).

Seriously, it's my firm belief that the iPhone will never reach the iPod status/marketshare within the cellphone market until it becomes fully unlocked and available to anyone at a reasonable price.

I'm patiently waiting for it to arrive here, I just hope that it's soon enough so I can get the non 3G upcoming version. For my use, 3G is 100% unnecessary, the only thing that it adds is the battery sucking leech

 

[MacBoySeattle]

You want to see how insignificant Apple and its little fancy toy phone known as the iphone are in the wireless industry? Check put this link:

http://mobile.pcworld.com/htmlsite/...world.com/article/id,140013-pg,1/article.html

Hahaha Nokia sold over 100 million phones just in Q3, Samsung about 40 million. Apple is so insignificant it doesn't even rank. Do you realize now that your Jesus phone really means jack sh*t and has virtually no marketshare? Heh just like a Mac, insignificant in sales, overpriced, and filled with fancy graphics and a rabid if stupid fan base who thinks its more important than it is. I laugh at the poor fools who pay 400 Euro let alone 800 Euro.

 

[Di9it8]

Get yourself down to St Pancras, get the Eurostar, make a weekend of it

Now thats a very good idea
Vive la France

 

[Di9it8]

.... the lawsuit would be eminent.

Do you mean imminent

 

[Di9it8]

I'm on Orange UK and I'm wondering if that would work ok?

I have an Orange Uk phone and a Swiss Orange phone, and I get no beneficial rates when I use Orange in France, in fact the Swiss Orange service has to be locked otherwise my account is bled dry.

 

[jer293]

It was consequential enough for you to wast time posting your rubbish. Sure nokia sold 100 million phones with margins approaching just above break even. Think of this when apple has 10 million phones sold which won't be long at this rate they will be getting roughly $11-12 dollars a month(pure profit), more or less they are becoming a carrier without the overhead. Eat your heart out nokia.

 

[Stella]

It was consequential enough for you to wast time posting your rubbish. Sure nokia sold 100 million phones with margins approaching just above break even. Think of this when apple has 10 million phones sold which won't be long at this rate they will be getting roughly $11-12 dollars a month(pure profit), more or less they are becoming a carrier without the overhead. Eat your heart out nokia.

At what rate? So far the indications have been the iPhone has been selling poorly in Europe. They won't break 10 million any time soon. Nokia sell more than twice that amount of smartphones in a quarter ( and sales are increasing year on year ).

Apple have work to do. I can't imagine that Apple will ever be a big cell phone player - unless they release cheaper phones at cheaper rates ; Like their PCs, cell phones will be a niche product ( although I think the PCs are very very good, overall ) otherwise.

Although his post came over a tad harsh, it contains the cold hard truth ( though amongst smartphones, Apple rank around 1% which is pretty good after 6 months ).

 

[cameronjpu]

Not a chance - I tried one in the Apple shop, and Internet is just too slow. It's a phone AND a web device, with the web crawling away. Nope, I will resist temptation and wait for the 3G model and availability across telecoms.

Heh, you found the only Apple store without Wifi?

 

[cameronjpu]

At what rate? So far the indications have been the iPhone has been selling poorly in Europe. They won't break 10 million any time soon. Nokia sell more than twice that amount of smartphones in a quarter ( and sales are increasing year on year ).

Apple have work to do. I can't imagine that Apple will ever be a big cell phone player - unless they release cheaper phones at cheaper rates ; Like their PCs, cell phones will be a niche product ( although I think the PCs are very very good, overall ) otherwise.

Although his post came over a tad harsh, it contains the cold hard truth ( though amongst smartphones, Apple rank around 1% which is pretty good after 6 months ).

Don't you get it? Apple does not want to be a big cell phone player any more than they want to be a big PC player. The beauty of the top 10% of the market is that the pay premium prices for premium goods. The other 90% of the market wants cheap cheap cheap. So while Dell sells 20% of the PCs on the market for around $500 each, how many Macs do you figure get sold for $500?

The money is in the high end!

 

[Matti]

It was consequential enough for you to wast time posting your rubbish. Sure nokia sold 100 million phones with margins approaching just above break even. Think of this when apple has 10 million phones sold which won't be long at this rate they will be getting roughly $11-12 dollars a month(pure profit), more or less they are becoming a carrier without the overhead. Eat your heart out nokia.

Post you replied was bad trolling, but still that's no excuse to post rubbish. Nokia's profit margins per phone are actully very good (over 20%), and they make billions and billions in profit every year. 5,5 billion € in 2006 (rougly 7,4 billion dollars).

 

[iPie]

Don't you get it? Apple does not want to be a big cell phone player any more than they want to be a big PC player. The beauty of the top 10% of the market is that the pay premium prices for premium goods. The other 90% of the market wants cheap cheap cheap. So while Dell sells 20% of the PCs on the market for around $500 each, how many Macs do you figure get sold for $500?

The money is in the high end!

Actually, I don't see how one can call the iPhone "high-end" without 3G.

More like "fashion-victim".

But you are absolutely right, Apple should get it's margins where it can, and it that's in the beautiful 10% of the market, I am happy to see the beauties separated from their premium cash.

I just hope these profits drive down prices for the rest of us in the "cheap, cheap, cheap - high-end" of the market.

 

[Stella]

Riiiiiight, and of course, you believe everything that comes out of Apple don't you. The reason Apple say this is because they aren't a more significant player in the PC market. They are positioning themselves in the PC market. If Apple weren't selling a boat load of iPods as they are now, they'd be saying the same about iPods, but no, SJ specifically states that iPod is #1 and are very happy to be #1.

Given a choice of selling ( at the same price points and contract rates ) the below number of iPhones per year, which do you think Apple would choose?
a) 100,000,000
b) 5,000,000

Do you think Apple would would choose (b)? No, of course not, they'd rather the larger quantity (a) to maximise their profits. If Apple could sell 100 million at cheaper price, they'd make a lot of profit that selling 5 million at the current price point.

I completely get it - I completely understand why Apple _say_ they don't want to a big PC player - and its for the above reason - they are positioning themselves. Apple would love to be the #1 ( but thats not happening anytime soon, probably never) or have a much higher marketshare. Whilst Apple continue to be a minor player, marketshare wise, you'll always hear such statements coming from Apple.

Don't you get it? Apple does not want to be a big cell phone player any more than they want to be a big PC player. The beauty of the top 10% of the market is that the pay premium prices for premium goods. The other 90% of the market wants cheap cheap cheap. So while Dell sells 20% of the PCs on the market for around $500 each, how many Macs do you figure get sold for $500?

The money is in the high end!

 

[Padraig]

Don't you get it? Apple does not want to be a big cell phone player any more than they want to be a big PC player. The beauty of the top 10% of the market is that the pay premium prices for premium goods. The other 90% of the market wants cheap cheap cheap. So while Dell sells 20% of the PCs on the market for around $500 each, how many Macs do you figure get sold for $500?

The money is in the high end!

That has to be the most ludicrous post i've ever read on Macumors.

 

[takao]

Don't you get it? Apple does not want to be a big cell phone player any more than they want to be a big PC player. The beauty of the top 10% of the market is that the pay premium prices for premium goods. The other 90% of the market wants cheap cheap cheap. So while Dell sells 20% of the PCs on the market for around $500 each, how many Macs do you figure get sold for $500?

The money is in the high end!

seriously i think apple would be much happier to sell 350 millions/year like Nokia than to sell 4 millions/year (so far 2 million sold within half a year)

10% of the worldwide phone market means more like 90 million

apple is not even at half a percent marketshare

 

[twoodcc]

dang, it sure is expensive in France!

 

[Steflinsky]

Deception APPLE tu laisse tomber steve

Bonjour,

je voulait exprimé ma grande deception de devoire acheter mon iphone chez orange... avec toute la propagante publicitaire et machinerie qui va avec ... je pensse que ce n'est vraiment pas le meilleur reseaux en france et en europe d'ailleurs... et de plus on se souvient avez sortie une pub sur 1984 etc.... (il aurait du l'appeler 2007 en faite)


25 ans après on y est .... orange je le rappel fait partie de france telecom.... et connait la competnece technique de se groupe que appartient a l'etat francais (je voulait dire qui est le reflet de l'etat francais surtout)

c est pour moi une attaque claire et net contre les autres operateurs ... beaucoup plus performant que orange...

a bonne entendeur

Salut

I remember one day... i have problem with my power book on PANTHER and the orange technician said it's your mac you need to reinstall safari.!!!!... bye...lol

Orange is very stupid and he unknow totaly waht is a mac

heyyyy i'am born the 29 novembre 1977
I have 30 !!!!!

 

[cameronjpu]

Given a choice of selling ( at the same price points and contract rates ) the below number of iPhones per year, which do you think Apple would choose?
a) 100,000,000
b) 5,000,000

Duh!

But it is not possible to sell that many phones (the same argument applies to computers) at the same price points and contract rates. Nokia certainly doesn't. The market for a high end product is small, and Apple does not want to sell a low end product and have all the headaches associated with it. There's tons of revenue in the low end, but not profit.

 

[2FAST4U]

if an american where to buy an unlocked iphone with no contract it would cost 1,104.11 USD

 

[Macintosheux]

Bonjour,

je voulait exprimé ma grande deception de devoire acheter mon iphone chez orange... avec toute la propagante publicitaire et machinerie qui va avec ... je pensse que ce n'est vraiment pas le meilleur reseaux en france et en europe d'ailleurs... et de plus on se souvient avez sortie une pub sur 1984 etc.... (il aurait du l'appeler 2007 en faite)


25 ans après on y est .... orange je le rappel fait partie de france telecom.... et connait la competnece technique de se groupe que appartient a l'etat francais (je voulait dire qui est le reflet de l'etat francais surtout)

c est pour moi une attaque claire et net contre les autres operateurs ... beaucoup plus performant que orange...

a bonne entendeur

Salut

I remember one day... i have problem with my power book on PANTHER and the orange technician said it's your mac you need to reinstall safari.!!!!... bye...lol

Orange is very stupid and he unknow totaly waht is a mac

heyyyy i'am born the 29 novembre 1977
I have 30 !!!!!

I'm French too, but please, when you are on an English-speaking board, don't speak French ! Furthermore you made so many mistakes (in both languages) that I guess almost nobody understood what you meant.

http://forum.macbidouille.com/ is a great French forum.

Happy birthday anyway !

 

[Steflinsky]

thanks you very much but...

I'm French too, but please, when you are on an English-speaking board, don't speak French ! Furthermore you made so many mistakes (in both languages) that I guess almost nobody understood what you meant.

http://forum.macbidouille.com/ is a great French forum.

Happy birthday anyway !

you need to study the french... like i study you english... i ivint you in france.

and for macbidouilles it's a joke?

steph

 

[John Musbach]

Orange announced pricing for the iPhone in France today.

Orange will be selling the iPhone for 399 euro along with one of four plans with prices ranging from 49 euros to 119 euros per month. All plans include unlimited internet and visual voicemail.

Customers who don't wish to subscribe to those particular plans can instead pay 549 euro and use another Orange plan. Finally for 649 euro, customers can purchase an iPhone with no required contract or obligation to Orange. The iPhone itself, however, will still need to be unlocked. With all options (399, 549, 649 euro), any customer may unlock the iPhone for an addition 100 euro during the first six months. After six months, the iPhone may be unlocked for free in accordance with French law.


Article Link

This is pretty cool, now if only we could get someone from Germany or France to export these unlocked iPhones to the US