70,000 units iPhone 1st month Orange's Sales in France

70,000 units iPhone, 1st month Orange's Sales in France. France’s Orange network has just reported that they sold more than 70,000 Apple iPhones in the month after launching the long-awaited handset on November 29. It took one month for France Telecom's Orange to sell 70,000 iPhones - less than half the number of units sold in just a day and a half here in the U.S.

The company claimed this number is well within its projected sales target of 50,000 - 100,000 units iPhone in the first month by the end of 2007. It's likely, however, the carrier altered that target once that 100,000 seemed less and less attainable. In a November interview with Europe 1 radio, France Telecom CEO Didier Lombard actually said the company hoped to sell 100,000 iPhones before the end of the year, not 50-100,000. Now, on the one hand, 70,000 units is not a bad number to play with. On the other hand, Apple and Orange saw sales-rates drop by more than 70%.

Orange says that 48% of iPhone buyers were new subscribers, opening a new account with the carrier. 82% of customers signed up for an iPhone-specific service plan, costing between €49 and €119 per month. Fewer than 3,500 customers opted to buy the unsubsidized iPhone without a wireless subscription.