Orange France has revealed its iPhone tariffs and details of the iPhone unlock deal it is forced to sell under French law.

Prices range from €49 to €119 per month, while the iPhone costs €399 ($588).

Orange is also offering iPhone at €549 ($808) to customers who do not wish to benefit from one of the four “Orange for iPhone” plans and at €649 ($956), without a plan.

The cost of unlocking the handset is €100 euros ($147) during the six months following purchase of the handset.

[via MacWorld]

It’s kinda obvious that teens and young adults are texting more than any other demographic. We just didn’t knew how much more they do that…

According to Ypulse, people ages 13-24 send more than 50 messages per week. In contrast, half of all survey respondents use text messaging at least once a week. Furthermore, Ypulse’s findings indicate that 54% of the mentioned demographic use SMS for social networking, while 44% of them use it for flirting or dating. Finally, 10% of 13-34 year olds said they have broken up with a boy or girl friend using text messaging. Now, that’s nasty…

intomobile.com

If we’re reading this correctly, the Motorola RIZR Z6c has both GSM and CDMA, meaning you can take this phone from CDMA networks in the States (Sprint/Verizon) onto GSM networks all over the world (or onto AT&T/T-Mobile). The phone’s just hit the FCC so we’re not sure what Motorola’s plans for this are in terms of carrier distribution other than Verizon, but we do know it has EV-DO rev. 0, so that may be a hint as to which providers this is heading to (maybe Sprint?). World phones are becoming more and more popular—see BlackBerry 8830—so it means Moto wants to get in on this James Bond globe-trekking market as well.

gizmodo.com

Sony Ericsson has opened its first ever exclusive store in Bangladesh with the aim to provide local customers with a “world class shopping experience.”

Beside offering the full range of Sony Ericsson devices, the new store also features well-trained and friendly staff, as well as such goodies as touchscreen self-help product updates and interactive phone display. Plus, let’s not forget the in-store customer service center, or so called “Sheba.”

There you have it. If happen to be in Bangladesh, make sure you visit the store at shop number 35 & 36, Block A, Level 6, Bahsundhara City — where you’ll certainly have a chance to get your hands on the latest Sony Ericsson’s handsets…

intomobile.com

London shoppers will soon be able to leave their cash at home and use their mobile phones to get on the bus and tube, pay for coffee and put big-ticket items on credit. The mobiles will contain the same security as chip and Pin cards, combined with the contactless communication system used in Transport for London’s Oyster travel card. The Sunday Observer reports.

“Early next year Barclaycard will run a trial of the technology on the back of its new ‘OnePulse’ contactless card, which was launched in September. OnePulse cards are combined credit cards and Oyster cards, and also allow small purchases (under £10) to be made without entering a Pin.

About 1,000 retailers in the capital are already equipped with the contactless terminals for OnePulse, so putting the technology into mobile phones will not require them to install yet more expensive kit. Several hundred Barclaycard customers will be issued with compatible phones supplied by Nokia, which has been pushing the technology for several years.

… The phone will also record every transaction, so fraudulent use will be immediately apparent. If the phone is lost or stolen, it can be immobilised remotely. Visa will also offer to alert cardholders by text if one of their cards is being used in a suspicious way. Contactless payments by mobile phone could also allay fears that criminals could clone cards by using portable readers and standing next to card users.”

textually.org

By now you’re all fully schooled in the black art of jailbreaking and unlocking your new iPhone, right? Did you know that the whole dirty business can be done via iTunes in just “seconds?” The catch: it requires a €999 (about $1,480) unlocked iPhone sold ( at least temporarily) by T-Mobile Germany. Interestingly enough, there isn’t any physical difference between a locked and unlocked iPhone, it’s Apple working all the unlocking magic over the network with a bit of help from iTunes. According to first reports from MacNotes.de, the IMEI number is recorded at the point of sale and sent to Apple. After 24 hours, the iPhone can be unlocked by iTunes in a procedure taking just seconds. The firmware remains unchanged at 1.1.2. This news potentially opens up the iPhone to further unlocking schemes although it already sounds very similar to the approach favored by iPhoneSimFree clan, don’t you think?

engadget.com

And the onslaught of pink electronics continues. Just in time for the holiday shopping season, here is the Sony Ericsson W580i in Metro Pink. We already know that a handset like this will appeal to the ladies, but with the word “metro” in its name, you’ve got to wonder if Sony Ericsson is targeting folks like David Beckham too. Somehow I have a hard time imagining Becks carrying a pink phone.

No word on pricing or availability, but without a service provider picking up the pink wonder on our side of the pond, I’m thinking the only way to get your hands on a Metro Pink Sony Ericsson W580i slider phone is through importers and other gray market means.

mobilemag.com

Here’s a twist of fate for you. After Vodafone filed a complaint against T-Mobile Germany for selling locked iPhones, the former has apparently snagged the exclusive rights to a much better prize. Some sort of inside source is reporting that Vodafone will be the exclusive carrier of the 3G Apple iPhone for all of its coverage areas. Meanwhile, T-Mobile is shaking its fist.

Vodafone is being pretty strange here, because they are criticizing T-Mobile for having exclusive German rights to the iPhone, while simultaneously grinning from ear to ear with their own 3G deal.

mobilemag.com

 We’re glad to see Motorola starting to claw their way back to their days as a leader in the mobile industry. Moto just secured a significant portion of the top ten 3G handsets sold in the US this past Q3 2007, and they’re not going to just sit back and bask (which is the mistake they made with their initial successes in the Moto RAZR V3) in their achievements. Motorola has announced that they’ll be running a blitz on the mobile space by pushing some 20-30 handsets onto the market in 2008.

While Motorola sits pretty as the 3rd largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world, their stance in Taiwan only measures up to a ho-hum 4th place. Motorola is gunning for the top-spot in the Taiwanese market with this new handset blitz. Bill Chen, newly appointed general manager of mobile device business at Motorola Taiwan, said that “In the coming year, Motorola will also stress strengthening its relations with channel partners in Taiwan and to pursue a balance between sales volume and profitability while gearing up efforts to boost performance.”

If you’re looking forward to Motorola’s Android-based handsets, you might want to make yourself comfortable - as there’s no set timetable for the release of Moto’s new OHA-compliant handset. But, with about two handsets launching every month, Taiwan is going to get their fill of non-Android Motorola mobile phones.

intomobile.com

It looks like Alltel’s keeping up with its larger wireless rivals. The recently launched CDMA BlackBerry 8130 Pearl with that glorious integrated GPS receiver will be making its way to Alltel’s network sporting an “amethyst” color scheme.

Expect the Alltel BlackBerry 8130 Pearl to pack in all the same hardware as its Sprint and Verizon kin - which is to say that it’ll rock GPS, EVDO, 2 megapixel camera, microSDHC card slot, and that SureType keyboard. Alltel says they’ll be launching their BlackBerry 8130 Pearl in time for the holiday shopping season (which is quite literally upon us), so look for this new Pearl to drop fairly soon. Oh, and it’ll cost you $150 after a $100 rebate (2-year contract required, of course).

Alltel
via
intomobile.com