“LG Electronics has unveiled the fruits of a mobile phone design partnership with Italian fashion goods maker Prada,” Martyn Williams reports for Macworld UK.
“The front face of the LG-KE850 phone is dominated by a large touch-screen display and little else, which at first glance means it looks a lot like Apple’s recently announced iPhone,” Williams reports. “A comparison of the tech-specs reveals that the Apple product is superior in several areas, including screen resolution, data networking ability and internal memory… The phone is a tri-band GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) model (900/1800/1900MHz) with support for EDGE data transmission.”
“It will go on sale first in late February through Prada shops in the UK, France, Germany and Italy. It will cost around €600 [US$777]. In March it will begin appearing in stores in Asia including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, said LG. A version for the Korean market is due out in the second quarter,” Williams reports. “LG has no plans to put it on sale in the US, said Judy Pae, a spokeswoman for the company in Seoul.”
Full article here.
Wait a second, according to Microsoft’s genius CEO Steve Ballmer, Apple was going to have the most expensive keyboard-less phone by far ever in the marketplace?
[Please suspend belief and forget about all of the other so-called “smartphones” that were released at higher prices than Apple’s iPhone which, of course, has a keyboard.]
Now LG goes and screws it all up for Microsoft’s genius CEO Steve Ballmer.
Now the big decision: Should we go with a user interface for an electronic device developed by Apple or one developed by LG/Prada? What a conundrum! We’ll tackle that one right after we decide whether to get a 4×4 developed by Jeep or one developed by Yugo/Prada.
Apple’s iPhone user interface “is the result of years of research and development” and “boy, have we patented it.” – Apple CEO Steve Jobs, January 09, 2007
Related article:
LG undecided about lawsuit against iPhone over similarities to LG’s Prada phone – January 16, 2007
Video of how Apple’s rumored touch-screen Tablet Mac could work – February 13, 2006
How about a Jeep designed by Prada? That might be nice.
One of these is a sows ear.
You can guess which.
I would think that Prada’s involvement was the exterior of the phone and that LG designed the UI.
They obviously didn’t copy off of Apple because very few people outside the company knew what the iPhone looked like before last week. But, wait for the impersonators to come out of the woodwork like they did with the iPod. They will come.
MW = “came” (ordinarily this would provoke a lot of jokes on my part but the fact that it fits with my last sentence is just plain freaky!
I love my Prada clothes. The way they look anyhow. Cheap shit falls apart.
I’m getting one
life is now
Microsoft and its CEO Ballmer don’t know about things they SHOULD know about.
If he were starting a new company today, I doubt a venture capitalist would go near him.
I thought they made designer tools for cowboys.
Last time I looked, 777 euros = $1000 US. Have I been caught in a time warp?
Therefore it is more expensive with less feature…..cool. Hope europeans snap it up.
The Devil wears Prada.
a couple cups of coffee followed by quite a “ballmer”, if I may say so, and Friday begins. NEXT!!!!
And Apple obviously didn’t copy off of them either. We can sure see that now that this unimpressive thing has been released.
whoops…didn’t have my morning coffee yet….sorry
The article says it costs 600 Euros not 777. Still quite a bit higher than the iPhone though.
I buy from underpants from Prada.
LG unveils iPhone-like Prada mobile phone?
Way to skew the reporting. Isn’t Apple going to be releasing a Prada-like phone…. and six months down the road no less? The kool-aid must be extra sugary today.
and for the record yes I know that’s not an MDN created headline.
I buy from underpants from Prada.
Missing my coffee too… I buy my underpants from Prada.
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iPhone-like? What, a black face? Because that seems to be where the resemblence ends.
And why isn’t Steve Ballmer whining about it’s price?
People have NO CLUE!
Bozos
S.
I’d rather have a Hummer! And iPhone integration. Hello?
We’ve been hearing from critics that Apple is ignoring the marketplace with respect to keyboards. Does this mean LG is also ignorning the marketplace — of course not. It means the stupid critics haven’t figured out that markets can shift with new technology.
proximty sensor on the LG?
Is there a difference between ‘touch screen’ and “multi-touch screen” that the iPhone has? (which Steve wittered on about how they are protecting all the patents)
Please smart people; answer that question like you know what you are talking about.
m
Is this type of phone exactly a surprise? Considering that pmp’s have been moving in this direction, it was only a matter of time. What makes iPhone interesting is the UI specifically, and its ‘blank slate’ quality for increased functionality over time. People get hung up about who’s first and that there are superficial cosmetic differences. Big deal.
I bet when LG was preparing this phone, they didn’t have as grand a view for it as iPhone has had during development. Just calling it Prada suggests they’re trying to appeal to high end consumers based on name and cachet. No matter what, it’s an LG. After iPhone’s announcement, I bet they had a realization that iPhone is really a hand-held platform that Apple can continue to expand over time. They’re now probably crapping kimchi trying to think of ways to make this phone into a platform, too. The thing is, they don’t have the sort of ecosystem that Apple has.
iPhone will do just fine. Will everyone have one? Absolutely not. It will be an object of desire for a while. In 2002, when I started showing around my first iPod, it was like that, too. I’d get the “that’s cool, but so expensive” mantra thrown at me. Now, about 90% of them have their own.
iPhone is a first foot in the door. It’s damn good for a first shot– just imagine the potential of what’s coming!
Capt. Obvious.
LG just “unveiled” their phone, they are not shipping it until late Feb.
Seeing as how Apple “unveiled” their iPhone first I can see how the Prada would be iPhone like.
Maybe when the thing ships you can say Apple is shipping a Prada like device in June. But not ’til LG ships.