Orange sells 90,000 iPhones, goal of 500K
updated 10:55 pm EST, Wed February 6, 2008
Orange sells 90K iPhones
France's Orange wireless service provider will reach its goal of 100,000 iPhones a little late, past its earlier anticipated target of the end of last year. January saw the total count reach 90,000 units, as compared to 70,000 in the month prior. CNN Money reports that half of the purchased units were going to new Orange customers. For the rest of 2008, Orange hopes to sell between 400,000 and 500,000 units.
Internationally, Apple has sold over 4 milliion iPhones to customers in the US, France, Germany, and the UK.
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Joined: Mar 2001
The things Apple left out
It's not about whether the iPhone is better than the competition What Apple failed to understand from the getgo is that international customers expect certain features, no matter what, in a phone. Lack of just one of these would be a source of ridicule for hardcore phone users. And anyone who would drop a few hundred pounds or euros on a phone is a hardcore phone user.
First, and most obvious, is that Apple cannot expect to sell locked phones in Europe and Asia. This is so elementary for anyone who has lived outside of the US it's shameful that Apple can't admit it.
Second, are the features that EVERY OTHER HIGH-END CAMERA PHONE OR SMARTPHONE on the market has that Apple doesn't.
MMS Video capture Free games and apps (J2ME, Symbian, Win Mobile) MIDI Ringtones Free ringtone creation (MIDI and MP3) Forwarding of messages Bluetooth file transfer 3G
These are features people actually USE!
If Apple wants to know why the iPhone is not meeting expectations in Europe, they just need to look at the competition, not with regard to what the iPhone does better (web browsing, multi-touch, music, video), but about the simple functions the iPhone is missing that many customers see as deal breakers.