iPhone 3G in France

The French will have to wait! Until Thursday.

The iPhone 3G will be released on July 17 in France because Orange always launches new products on Thursday and they did not want to make an exception for the iPhone 3G. "L'excéption Française!"

Just like Apple, Orange wishes to encourage new customers rather than old non-iPhone current customers who will pay the highest price to acquire the new iPhone.

For current Orange customers with iPhone v1, the iPhone 3G 8GB is priced at 199 euros and the 16GB at 249 euros with a 2 year contract. Additionally, the Orange customer needs to have accumulated at least 2400 fidelity points to be eligible for the offer.

For a new Orange customer, the iPhone 3G 8GB model will be at 149 euros and the 16GB model 199 euros.

Even more interesting, for a customer who wishes to migrate from his iPhone v1 to the new iPhone 3G, Orange offers a 100 euro discount which brings the price down to 99 euros for the 8GB model and 149 euros for the 16GB models. The customer should have bought his iPhone v1 before June 12 2008.

Last but not least, if the iPhone v1 customer does not have the required 2400 points Orange may grant them to him.