"Oui." That's what Stéphane Richard—Orange's Chief Executive Officer Delegate—answered to French journalist Jean Pierre Elkabbach on radio Europe 1, when asked about the imminent launch of the Apple tablet. He also mentions the webcam we heard about.[Updated]
Jean Pierre Elkabbach: According to Le Point, your partner Apple will launch a Tablet...
Stéphane Richard: Yes.
Jean Pierre Elkabbach: ...with a webcam...
Stéphane Richard: Yes.
Jean Pierre Elkabbach: ...would Orange users benefit from this?
Stéphane Richard: Sure! They are going to benefit from the web cam, certainly we will be able to, in effect, transmit images in real time. We are going to modernize, in essence, the video phone that we knew a few years ago... the size of the resolution, and the quality of the resolution will be better, and it will be available to all in France.
Jump to 6:15 to listen to it (in French):
Update: In an official statement, Orange has said that Stephane Richard's words were "taken out of context" and that he didn't acknowledge the existence of the Apple tablet.
However, the translation above is exactly what he said, with all the context. There's no other mention to the Apple tablet before or after the above. So no, his words weren't taken out of context, and they are presented as is.
Back in 2007, Orange CEO Didier Lombard spilt the beans on their iPhone partnership with Apple ahead of the official announcement, prompting the rage of Steve Jobs and an "official" denial by the Orange PR machine.
[Nowhereelse and moconews]