France Telecom’s Orange division will be among the first carriers to offer the iPhone 3G this July according to a joint statement from Apple and Orange today. To kick things off, Orange will start selling the iPhone 3G in Austria, Portugal and Switzerland on July 11, but France will have to wait until July 17th to join in the fun. Since the launch of the iPhone in France, Orange has reported that they have sold more than 100,000 units and as a result have decided to offer the iPhone in more countries.
Orange will begin offering the product later this year to its subscribers in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and several African markets. It is pretty clear that the world wants the iPhone 3G and Orange is doing their part to ensure that as many subscribers as possible across their network join in the fun.
While the availability of the iPhone 3G was announced in great detail, the pricing on Orange’s network was lacking. With $199 price point here in the US, it will be interesting to see how Orange decides to play their cards as UK’s O2 has announced the iPhone 3G for as little as free with certain tarrifs. In any case, July will be the month of the iPhone 3G and we can only imagine how high Apple stock will rise by year’s end.
