France Telecom's Orange unit sold about 30,000 smartphones in the first five days accoding to reports today.

France gave only Orange a right to sell iPhones due to the country's marketing restrictions, that do not allow other companies from engaging in the same business.

Many iPhones were sold in five days in France for $964 as standalone devices without a service plan though majority of the purchasers signed a contract for multiple months.

This is a very good score, especially as one in two iPhone purchases is accompanied by a new Orange line subscription. This confirms that the iPhones will make an active contribution to the acquisition of new customers, said Louis Pierre Wenes, Orange executive director for France operations.

The cost of iPhone in France is cheap ($964) compared to $1,500 charged by Germany's T-Mobile unit in Germany.

Wenes said they were pleased that a high percentage of its iPhones sales, 48 percent, were leading to new Orange subscribers.

Orange is projecting 2008 sales by selling between 400,000 and 500,000, and expect to sell up to 100, 000 by the end of 2007.

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