Rumours about mobile phones

Orange France Denies Its Support for a September iPhone Launch

We'll carry the iPhone...no, we won't....yes we will...make up your mind!

By Elena Balan, Communications News Editor

24th of August 2007, 07:41 GMT

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Rumors that France Telecom's mobile phone unit Orange will be the one to bring the iPhone to this country has reached this operator too. They responded promptly to these rumors, denying that this will happen any time in the near future.

What the company did not

completely deny is that it is the official carrier for this handset in France. Orange executive director Louis-Pierre Wenes said in an interview with Paris Match magazine that it is "impossible" for the iPhone to hit the French market in September, as many people hoped to be the case. What he did mention is that a release in the fourth quarter of this year is highly possible, according to Apple's initial plans.

It looks like every day brings new "sure" reports on the companies that have managed to close a deal with Apple for the iPhone's European release. The information is confusing, as things change from one day to the other and no official confirmation of the rumors ever arrives. The handset's producers have gone to great trouble for keeping the evolution of their negotiations with carriers from this continent undisclosed.

Just a few days ago, some headlines sprung over the media, showing some carriers as a sure thing to bring the iPhone in the near future. According to the news, Orange was supposed to be the one to bring the handset to France, T-Mobile to Germany and O2 to the UK. Still, the matter of uncertainty has appeared again, as Orange France seems to have yet to end negotiations with Apple over the terms of the future iPhone release on this country's market.

It will be a happy day when the device finally launches in Europe and sets all these rumors aside, or at least when the European carriers will finally decide to make some official statements on this future release. Until then, suppositions and rumors will continue to keep their names in capital letters next to the "wonder phone". Orange's shares rose 1.5 percent over the past days, only due to the publicity brought by this rumor.

TAGS:

Orange France | iPhone | Europe | Louis-Pierre Wenes

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