PRESS RELEASE
June 9, 2008
Orange and Apple to Bring iPhone 3G to Austria, France, Portugal & Switzerland on July 11
PARIS and SAN FRANCISCO—June 9, 2008—Orange and Apple® today announced that the highly anticipated iPhone™ 3G will be available in Austria, France, Portugal and Switzerland on July 11, and in additional markets across Europe, the Middle East and Africa later this year. iPhone 3G combines all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast* as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK.
“At Orange we believe in making the Internet more personal—giving our customers fast access to the information and entertainment that they want, wherever they are,” said Olaf Swantee, head of Orange’s Global Mobile Operations. “iPhone 3G takes advantage of our widespread 3G networks and together we are making the mobile experience for our customers even better.”
“We’re excited to extend our relationship with Orange to bring iPhone 3G to more than 12 markets across the globe,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s COO. “We can’t wait to get this revolutionary phone in the hands of even more people around the world.”
Orange’s mobile networks use the fastest available technologies with speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps. The combination of widespread EDGE, Wi-Fi, 3G and HSDPA networks mean customers can fully enjoy the mobile Internet almost wherever they go. In addition, Orange will offer a range of new services, tariffs and benefits for iPhone customers. Orange will begin taking pre-orders for iPhone 3G later this month.
iPhone 3G will launch in Austria, France, Portugal and Switzerland on July 11. Orange customers in the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Orange’s African markets can purchase iPhone 3G later this year. Customers will be able to pre-order from their local Orange websites and iPhone 3G will be available through many of Orange’s 6,500 direct retail stores.
*Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds vary by site conditions.
Orange is the n° 1 brand of France Telecom, one of the leading telecommunications' operators in the world. France Telecom, provides services for more than 172 million customers on five continents (figures at 31 December 2007) of which two thirds apply the Orange brand. The Group generated a consolidated turnover of €52.9 billion in 2007 (13 billion on 31 March 2008). On 31 Mar 2008, the Group had 111.9 million mobile customers and 12 million broadband customers. The NExT program was launched in June 2005 (New Experience in Telecommunications) and enables the group to continue its transformation into an integrated operator in view of positioning France Telecom as the benchmark operator in new telecommunication's services in Europe. In 2006, Orange became the exclusive group brand for Internet, television and mobile services in most countries penetrated by the group. In parallel, Orange Business Services has been positioned as the brand used for corporate services internationally. France Telecom is the third ranked mobile operator and the n° 1 provider of ADSL Internet access in Europe and is among the world leaders for telecommunication's services for multi-national companies. France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris Eurolist market and on the New York Stock Exchange. For more information: www.orange.com, www.francetelecom.com, www.orange-business.com.
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