France Telecom/Orange said on Tuesday that they expect to sell 100,000 iPhones by the end of the year, according to Reuters. The iPhone goes on sale in France November 29th.

The launch of the iPhone in France will draw additional scrutiny over the terms of the purchase and sales contract. Unlike the UK where locking a mobile phone locked to a carrier is common, French law doesn't allow the practice, and like Germany, France Telecom will be forced to offer unlocked iPhones. However, they will cost substantially more than the locked version.

The Orange/iPhones competitors Vivendi and Bouygues Telecom are also gearing up to meet the iPhone challenge and plan to emphasize that their offerings are 3G in contrast to the 2.7G iPhone.

Orange plans to offer an unlocked iPhone for much less than T-Mobile is charging in Germany, according to Didier Lombard, France Telecom's chief executive officer. T-Mobile is charging €999 (US$1485) for their version of the unlocked iPhone. Mr. Didier also predicted 100,000 iPhones will be sold by the end of the year, and Gartner's Carolina Milanesi deemed that number reasonable.

Orange will sell a locked version of the iPhone for €399 (US$592) and a 24-month contract will be priced at €49 ($72.75) per month.

"There's an irrational side to a decision to buy an Apple trademarked iPhone which makes it difficult to predict sales," said Gontran Filet, a telecom industry consultant. In addition, the problems associated with selling both unlocked and locked versions of the iPhone in different countries in Europe may eventually lead to Apple dropping the contract model altogether, according to Ms. Milanesi.