Appletell

Orange, the exclusive iPhone carrier in France, has admitted to capping their 3G download speeds after receiving many complaints from users and several customers comparing speeds to other European countries. iPhone users on the T-Mobile network in Germany were repeatedly receiving download speeds of over 1800kbps, whilst those on France’s Orange network were struggling to reach 400kbps. Orange’s technical support lines were jammed with calls of slow speeds, and in some cases the support technicians voluntarily renamed the Access Point Name and other variables to increase download speeds. These customers reported speeds in excess of 3mbps.

Details after the break.

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French cellular operator Orange has signed a deal with Apple to sell its iPhone in the Middle East, Africa and several European countries. France Telecom’s Orange said in a one-sentence statement that it will sell the iPhone in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and African markets later this year.

France Telecom spokesman Bertrand Deronchaine said that Orange will be the exclusive iPhone provider in Belgium and Romania, with co-exclusive or non-exclusive deals in other countries. Deronchaine declined to offer more details about the arrangement. So far, Apple has made exclusive deals with AT&T Inc. in the United States, O2 in Britain, T-Mobile in Germany and Orange in France for its iPhone.

Apple plans further expansion in the iPhone market later this year through its partnership with Mexico City-based America Movil SAB, the top mobile phone operator in Latin America. The company announced earlier this month that it plans to bring the iPhone to all of its Latin American operations.

The announcements in deals and partnerships with other cellular operators will help Apple meet its goal to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of this year.

Via [Yahoo! News]

Wow, I didn’t expect to see this happening. It appears that Apple is removing their international “Get a Mac” ads. Both the UK and Japan versions of the USA-successful Get a Mac ads are no longer being aired on television, neither are they on Apple’s UK or Japan website anymore. The French ads have just been removed, too. It’s a shame to see John Hodgman and Justin Long’s international equivalents gone. I’m sure all Apple wanted to do is provide more targeted advertising for these countries. I have to say though, the UK ads were nothing special. People always ignored them. I much prefer the American ones. According to Macworld UK, the ads backfired by making the PC character more sympathetic than the “smug” Mac. I think it’s time Apple switched over to another advertising campaign. Get a Mac may have been successful with some people, but it’s too over-biased in my opinion. Although I’m a proud Mac user, I still respect Windows as a great platform for some things. Apple’s ads should be praising them; not putting down the competition.

Via [MacUser]

iPhones are selling very well in France, according to these statistics: Orange has sold over 70,000 iPhones in just the first month of sales - which sounds considerably better than what we’ve heard of the iPhone in the UK from O2. O2 haven’t publicized any statistics of iPhone sales in the UK yet which presumably means they are not good. Around the UK, the word on the street is “iPhones are too expensive - don’t buy them”. The contracts are ridiculously overpriced compared to those in the USA.

O2 expected to sell 200,000 iPhones by the end of this month and they claim to be “in line with expectations”. But I won’t believe it until official statistics can prove it. Orange appears to be happy with the iPhone in France, they expected to sell between 50,000 and 100,000 - they sold 70,000. And even though the Orange iPhone can be bought without a contract restricted to Orange - 82% of buyers went for the iPhone-specific plan. The unlocked phones did sell, too, but fewer than 3,500 customers chose to buy them, most likely for the higher price tag of €999.

Via [Macworld UK]