Orange will launch Apple’s iPhone on its network on November 10, the day after O2’s exclusive contract to sell the smartphone comes to an end.

The launch date had been shrouded in secrecy since the operator confirmed in late September that it had won the right to sell the iPhone.

However, The Times has learnt that Orange will start selling the handset in a little over two weeks. More than 200,000 people have pre-registered to buy an iPhone through the operator in the past month.

Orange declined to comment on its launch date or the exact number of pre-registrations that it has received.

The launch makes for a busy day in the telecoms sector, with Vodafone to report interim results on November 10. Vodafone, which will start to sell the iPhone in the UK next year, will be asked about its own launch timetable.

O2 began to offer the iPhone on November 9, 2007, at an event attended by Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and chief executive, held at the Californian company’s Regent Street store in the West End of London.

Potential customers will have to wait to learn Orange’s pricing plans. With O2 turning its attention to the Palm Pre, which it launched exclusively last week, and Vodafone entering the iPhone fray next year, Orange has a narrow timeframe in which to press home its advantage.

Yet those hoping that the three operators will engage in a price war are likely to be disappointed. Analysts have argued that the iPhone is a premium product and selling it cheaply would not make strategic sense for the operators.

Orange and Vodafone may look to capitalise on O2’s recent network problems in London to highlight the strength of their own networks or build more value into the bundles on offer. T-Mobile is still considering whether it will sell the iPhone in the UK, while Kevin Russell, chief executive of 3 UK, said this week that the country’s smallest operator also expected to sell Apple’s handset by mid-2010.

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