France Telecom is one of the largest mobile phone operators in the world with business in dozens of countries and revenues of tens of billions of dollars annually. its CEO stated in a recent interview that Europeans are no longer interested in spending a lot of money on expensive smartphones such as iPhoneand terminals Samsung Galaxy S III. It seems that in Europe there are less and less people willing to buy a new smartphone at a high price, and this will affect the sales of iPhones, but also the sales of other important smartphones.
France Telecom SA (FTE) Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard, head of one of Europe's largest wireless carriers, said the increasing frugality of customers is threatening sales of pricey phones such as Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s iPhone. The shift has been especially severe in Europe, where more customers are keeping the same phone when they switch carriers. Amid a slumping economy and mounting competition, France Telecom has seen prices drop 25 percent over the past three years, squeezing profit margins and its stock price. Its cheapest plan now provides unlimited calls and texting and 3 gigabytes of data for about 20 euros a month.
Stephane Richard says that users are now interested in the best offers for smartphones and subscriptions, so cheap mobile phones and not very expensive subscriptions have the best results. It was somewhat normal to hear something like this from the CEO of France Telecom, considering that Europe is going through a difficult period from a financial point of view, and consumers are looking to buy cheap things. It is hard to believe that the iPhone 5S will no longer attract queues at Apple stores and those of the operators, but they will be smaller than in the past.
It is normal, although we, the Romanians, are early adopters.
An S3 is not worth the money, better an iPhone 4S or an S3 mini...
The CEO of France Telecom is wrong!
he's not wrong at all, I don't know how much you travel around Europe, but I said some time ago that in Europe there is no more emphasis on top smart phones, they have a different way of thinking and they don't throw money away...... ...there are a lot of people here who buy only for vegetables and the rest buy for fear of making a fool of themselves, so in this chapter we have a lot to learn, because at the moment we are badly behind.
the same happens in other chapters, such as cars or clothes, where there is no emphasis on them at all, instead we make a big fuss if you drive a "plague" car or if you don't have a company tol.......
@Seby: you are very right.
The CEO of France Telecom is right...
Our poor country has more iPhones per capita,
Like other much more developed countries..with us, the step and the iPhone.
Balkan characteristic.
Big Like Seby
How can you say that the CEO of France Telecom is wrong?:))). Samsung will always win the battle with Apple in Europe! S4 will sell better than 5s! Considering the new trends, 5s at launch will be 100 euros more expensive than 5! Phones will no longer be subsidized like in previous years! So expect a price of 450 euros for a subscription of 39-49 euros/month.
Maybe open a topic related to the quality of the network... Lately orange has gone crazy, there are people who can't even make a phone call... I for one have to try 5-6 times to call someone in orange
@Niceman
Maybe you have problems with your phone.
Cristi@ in Europe the world has 1600-2000 euro salary, so what is the problem that plastic is 100 euro cheaper than The Thing? There are many who buy the iPhone at full price: 669-869 euros and have subscriptions for unlimited voice (world), internet, text, etc.
@Niceman: I don't have problems like that.
Apple also knew this, so it launches a cheap iPhone, whether it's plastic or not, it will definitely have very good sales
Correct. Here you hardly see the Balkan "fitzosu": he eats pretzels, walks in sneakers through the snow at minus 10 degrees... but he has an iPhone. You're broke, but in trend.
@Niceman You're right, sometimes Orange works like hell. And it's not for them. because other colleagues of mine have the same problems (and they have other phone companies). I said that maybe they are doing infrastructure work, possibly testing 4G, but this has been going on for a long time... Let's see what Orange is doing.
I'm in Spain and I want to tell you here that telephone companies give a phone as a gift, especially Samsung, for a subscription of 40 euros per month, but I haven't seen any telephone company give an iPhone as a gift for a certain subscription, here you can find samsung s3 for 30 euros per month subscription... they don't buy phones with low money, they are interested where it is free even if they have a 50 euro per month subscription with internet, they are very different from us
The poor Europeans... They are in the latent stage for a little longer both in socio-economic development and in mentality, that's why the Americans beat them and the Asians make fun of them by stuffing themselves with so much plastic and poor quality things. The thing about cheap and good advertising, I never believed it, but other acquaintances of mine have experienced it, and when you say that if you hit the threshold once you learn to think, it doesn't apply to 99% of Europeans... 🙂
In other words, we could say that following the fact that they will no longer be subsidized, and what is most important is that the market has reached a slight saturation!!!
You walk on the Champs-Élysées, Gran Via or Fifth Avenue and you see most of them holding an iPhone. If they will "remix" the body in this style, people will not be so eager to buy, (and let's not forget the crisis) it's hard to always release something (like the i4) and break the market! In France, the virtual or not ex Free companies broke those like Orange, SFR, etc., they have for €19 unlimited internet, unlimited calls in Frata on landline and mobile and in the EU on landline also unlimited and it seems also in the States and Canada plus wi be through Town !! What more do we want?!! When will we see something like this in Romania!?? Soon I don't think so! They started in other countries with similar offers but at least double the price! So we are far :))