Orange UK to Offer the iPhone
Orange UK is set to start offering the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS according to ITProPortal. Previously exclusive to O2 in the UK, that deal is said to end on Oct. 9, clearing the way for some competition in the UK market. (At least beyond T-Mobile smuggling in a few units from Germany...)
Orange was previously the exclusive French iPhone provider until Bouygues-Telecom got into the game, and these latest deals seem to indicate Apple is serious about increasing their customer base.... at least outside the US. (Though it's admittedly easier internationally where almost all providers are GSM and on similar frequencies).
Rumors about Orange getting the iPhone hit TiPb back in May, but there remain no details yet on when and how much. If you're in the UK, however, let us know if you're planning to make the jump to Orange when you can.
[Thanks bengillam for the tip!]
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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In countries where there is more than 1 iPhone provider, is the iPhone still locked to specific networks? Or can you switch providers with a simple SIM card swap...
This is excellent news, I want to upgrade to the 3GS, I reckon I'll jump across pretty much as soon as they get it. Much better coverage, in pretty much every way. And they actually some sort of EDGE network as well.
David: In Australia all 5 of our networks offer the iPhone. The iPhones are all locked, but can be unlocked for a fee (varies from about $60 - $150). All the carriers offer the iPhone $0 upfront, though not on all plans - you'll need to pay at least $69/month to get a "free" iPhone.
Best of all, Apple retail stores also sell the iPhone. They sell it outright, & unlocked!
@frog, any ideas how the unlock works? i wonder if this is a firmware thing that locks certain countries hardware to certain networks, if its as hard as it is for the dev team to unlock it each time a new baseband is released then an official unlock semms unlikely to me as the dev team would probably have found a way to exploit it regardless of baseband version. Only time will tell
So i work for Orange and am slightly worried about this news. Sure it will be good to sell a decent phone for a change rather than iPhone wannabies but Orange just isn't very good!
Orange were incredibly slow adopting data tariffs and the new 'animal' tariffs have a 24 month standard length (rather than O2's 18 month tariffs) and importantly coverage, particularly in buildings, is not as good as O2's for such a data intensive handset this is not good news. Furthermore customer services / phone centres are no where near as good as O2's, for starters most O2 call centres are UK based unlike Orange.
Orange always seems one step behind, which is the complete opposite to Apple, they where slow recognising the importance of data on phones and still havent recognised the need for a hands-on store set-up.
I will be staying with O2.
OrangeEmployee
(David: I have little doubt that the phone will be locked to Orange in a way no different to all other handsets we sell which are also available on other networks)
I wholeheartly agree with OrangeEmployee, I used to work for Orange and they are slow to react, cumbersome and obsessed with being seen as important as the handset makers, when all they are is a dumb pipe. O2 realise the handset offers the value to their network and more often than not leave them completely unmarked with their logos, it will be interesting to see if there is any Orange branding on the iPhone.
@ Zen, I guarantee there will be absolutely no logos other than Apple's on any of their products. In the recent history of Apple's products, I can't remember a single instance of that happening.
Orane put their own software on phone along with that orange square. Who wants that on the back of their shiny new iPhone?
@Dradonfly, i agree that it is unlikley that Apple will allow this, and i very much hope they dont. Although Zen is right in that Orange like to brand there phones and clutter them with their own horrible software and themes.
China Unicom were rumoured to have there logo on the iPhone (but i dont know if this will actually happen): http://www.intomobile.com/2009/07/31/china-unicom-iphone-spotted.html
I'm here in the UK but I'm not with O2 or Orange I am unlocked to Vodafone, but this is still very positive as it guess it could mean that that the iPhone would be unlocked so I wouldn't have to worry about unlocking.
http://www.theiphonetheory.com check out my blog
And id say there's a small chance Orange now have the pull being the largest network to get Apple to differentiate the "Orange iPhone" with a small Orange logo on the back, especially if they put all of there advertising push behind the project.
@Zen, if the Orange logo is not on the french iPhone then there is no chance of that changing in the UK. Plus Orange is not the biggest network in the UK yet, they're gonna have to wait another 18 months before that happens. On top of that, Apple almost regards their brand and logo as sacrilegious, the only company I've seen them share their logo space with is Nike. And thats because if the Nike+iPod deal.
@zen
"And id say there’s a small chance Orange now have the pull being the largest network..."
And I'd say "not quite." With the merger, Orange/T-Mobile will have around 28 million customers, which is not even close to half the number AT&T has, and there is absolutely no way that AT&T will ever have their logo on an iPhone.
and Vodafone have been confirmed to sell both models from early 2010.
http://www.vodafone.co.uk/iphone
oh cool!! thanks so much for this
AFAIK, Apple are among the only manufacturers to have fastidiously avoided having logos stuck all over their hardware. (Have you ever seen a PC without "Intel Inside" all over it - have you ever seen a Mac with a single sticker??) If Orange were to try and co-brand the handset they might as well stick 'Late Adopter' all over it too and see how many they sell...
apparently o2 are reconsidering their iphone unlocking policy as iphone will no longer be exclusive..