PARIS (Reuters) - France Telecom said on Wednesday that its Orange division had already sold close to 30,000 iPhones in France since its launch there last week.

The French launch of Apple Inc's iPhone saw hundreds of buyers queue up outside Orange's flagship store on Paris' Champs-Elysees, in a similar frenzy to the ones just after its initial launch in New York and elsewhere in Europe earlier this year.

The iPhone combines usual mobile phone devices with the facilities of an iPod music player, an Internet browser and other multimedia options.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Editing by Erica Billingham)
© Copyright 2007 Reuters.

Photo:
Simon Treille, the first customer to purchase an iPhone in the French capital, displays his handset as hundreds of eager buyers lined up in front of Orange's boutique on Paris' Champs Elysees November 28, 2007. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier