14 DAY TRIAL // The French iPhone launch didn't seem like it would be too much of a big deal, after all, the unlocked iPhone had already surfaced in France and the service plans had been leaked. Despite this, Orange did have quite a few surprises in store and it will be interesting to see how the iPhone market is affected by the new prices.
The base price for the iPhone in France is 399?, with a two year contract with Orange. This had been already announced and is no surprise. It is interesting to note that customers have the option of paying more per month and thus shave one year off the contract duration. The real news are the prices for the other flavor of iPhone. For 549? you can get an iPhone with no contract, but it will still be 'locked' to the Orange network. For just 100? more, you can get a fully unlocked, no contract iPhone. This is significantly cheaper than the same thing offered in Germany. Another key factor is that the cost of unlocking the device is ?100, but only during the six months following purchase of the handset. After this time, all French carriers are required by law to open up the handsets to everyone. This goes very nicely with the fact that if you still have time on your Orange contract, you can buy an iPhone with just a 6-month lock-in.
The service plans themselves are exactly those that were leaked, ranging from ?49 to ?119 per month. Much like the plans in the UK or Germany, they are nothing to write home about, typically falling far short of similarly priced, non-iPhone service plans.
Between companies starting to buy customers out of their lock-ins with the official iPhone carriers and the price of unlocked handsets becoming cheaper and cheaper with each passing release, it likely won't be long before the iPhone starts getting a bit more traction in Europe. France is likely to see a small horde of invading barbarians, beating on their door demanding to purchase unlocked iPhones. It will also be interesting to see if T-Mobile brings the cost down a little in face of these new developments.