Orange Offering Upgrade Path to 3G to French iPhone Owners

The info comes from my wife's aunt, who lives in France. Normally I wouldn't necessarily take anything my wife's aunt says as gospel, but it's also been confirmed by French site PC Inpact.

According to both sources, Orange is offering two different options:

* iPhone owners can give their current devices back to Orange and buy a 3G iPhone for the low price of €50 (whoa!).

* Keep their current iPhones and buy a 3G iPhone at a "generous" subsidized rate (although "generous" is undefined).

The note that the 3G iPhone in option 2 would be subsidized caught my eye. Until now iPhones have been unsubsidized, but there have been rumors that the 3G iPhone may have a $200 subsidy with a 2-year contract. This tends to solidify that rumor.

The incentives above also mean what I've contended for some time, despite the hopeful glances of some friends who have iPhones: even with the 2.0 firmware, original iPhone owners will be stuck on EDGE.

Source: Reported by Tech Ex http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/