Following on from recent iPhone price cuts implemented in Germany by T-Mobile and in the UK by O2, exclusive French carrier Orange is reportedly also set to drop the price of Apple’s touch-screen smartphone to help counter lacklustre regional sales.
Is exclusive French iPhone carrier Orange heading towards a first-gen price reduction like T-Mobile and O2? Credit: Orange.
According to a report in French business publication Les Echos, California-based computer and gadget company Apple Inc. is pushing Orange to shift focus to a subsidised pricing strategy after the iPhone managed to sell only 100,000 units in its first four months on sale.
However, in responding to the gathering price cut rumour, Orange’s parent company France Telecom has insisted that the carrier will not be changing its business model regarding the iPhone and that “everything is going well.”
Orange presently sells the iPhone in France for 399 Euros. T-Mobile recently slashed the price of the 8GB iPhone down to a mere 99 Euros, while O2 has launched a limited time reduction bringing the GBP price of the 8GB model down to 169 from 269.
It is believed that T-Mobile and O2 vastly overestimated the emergent Euro popularity of the iPhone and are now slashing prices to help shift quantities of first-generation (EDGE network) stock ahead of the upcoming introduction of Apple’s (far superior 3G network) second-generation replacement, which is much more likely to find traction.
Les Echos also offers that Apple Inc. is receiving resistance from Orange regarding the subsidisation plan on the grounds that the carrier first wants Apple to soften the blow by revising its percentage slice of any associated profit revenues.
If and when Apple and Orange come to an agreement, there seems little doubt that consumer love for Apple’s iconic iPhone handset is already beginning to flag in Europe, a region where the device’s sub-standard EDGE network inadequacies have been more readily exposed when compared to the North American market -- where 3G is not so prevalent.
Also, the iPhone’s steep price is likely dissuading a great many prospective customers from adopting, not least because Europeans are not accustomed to paying for their phones. The majority of phone carriers generally offer hardware as an accompanying bonus alongside fixed usage contracts.
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