100,000 iPhones expected to sell in France by '08

France Telecom's Orange expects to sell nearly 100,000 Apple iPhones by the end of 2007, the French phone company's chief executive said Tuesday.

"The target is a little under 100,000 sold by the end of the year," CEO Didier Lombard told Europe 1 radio. The iPhone is set to go on sale in France on Wednesday night.

Lombard also said Orange will offer the unlocked iPhone in France at a price "significantly lower" than the $1,485 (999 euros) proposed by Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile in Germany.
Full details of sale prices for the music-playing, Net-browsing phone will be published on Wednesday morning, but Lombard gave some indications.

In France, the starting price of the iPhone with a contract will be $588 (399 euros), he said.
Lombard also said that a 24-month contract will start at $72 a month and include two hours of communications and 50 text messages. The price would be $6.50 more per month for a 12-month contract, the minimum term, he said.