BIC is probably one of the most respected names in the business of pens. You might not turn to BIC when you need a high-end pen gift, but you know that their regular run-of-the-mill pens will never fail you in the office, at school, or wherever. You do have to wonder, though, why BIC would choose to expand so outside of the stationery business.

Although you can already find the BIC name on a few products other than pens, I do find it very strange that you will soon be able to buy a BIC phone from Orange France. The prepaid cell phone is supposed to be easy-to-use and ready-to-go right out of the box. When you buy the entry-level handset, you get 60 free minutes, a fully charged battery, and a pre-installed SIM card.

Now, it wouldn’t make sense for BIC to make this phone itself, so they turned to TCL (Alcatel) for the manufacturing end of things. The BIC phone will be available starting August 7 in citrus orange and lime green for 49 Euro.