RSSLG's 'Prada' Re-branding Enables Apple iPhone Comparisons
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published January 18, 2007, 5:29 PM
In a clever exercise of timely re-branding, LG unveiled a new front-end for its touch-screen KE850 handset, which already won a design award in December. Now, a special edition of the device that will bear the "Prada" brand solo is being touted as LG's "answer" to the Apple iPhone, even though the LG phone may actually have been among a few to force Apple's hand.
Though there may be a price to pay for being characterized as the first "me-too" device in its class, the Prada Phone makes over the steel-blue "desktop" background originally planned for the KE850, according to pictures, with a charcoal grey screen whose buttons are touch-sensitive.
The device is likely to do its biggest competition with the Apple iPhone on the blogs. While Apple's device will be largely sold in North America at first, the Prada Phone will make its way to European customers next month - including, of course, in Italy - and in staged Asian launches between March and June. A North American version does not appear to be in the cards as yet.
The biggest similarity between the two phones, besides the fact that both use a touch-screen panel, appears at present to be that both seek to serve a new segment of the market whose very existence has been doubted by analysts in recent days: the premium, fashion-phone user who is comfortable with mainstream features in a flashy package, but who may not require premium functionality just yet. LG touts the Prada Phone this morning as a tri-band EDGE phone with a 2 Mp camera and 8 GB of internal flash memory. That's not all that different from the buildout of Cingular's (AT&T's) Apple iPhone; and if LG sticks with EDGE, then it may need to wait for the Apple device's media cycle to subside a bit if it expects to nudge its way into the carrier's US product line.
Then again, if the recent naysayers are right about Apple's missing functionality turning off premium customers, then Prada may do well to restrict itself to the European market, where the brand's ambiance is arguably stronger anyway. LG plans to introduce the phone in Europe for 600 Euro (about USD$777).
If this phone is called a "me-too" product just because iPhone was announced first, shouldn't Mac OS X also be a "me-too" product of some sorts because Longhorn was announced first?
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|Hahahaha! That's so f-ing ridiculous it's actually funny.
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|WOW. Thats a GOOD joke!
I really hope you were being sarcastic and not just being ignorant.
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|Laughing Out Loud at that comment. That is the most ignorant comment all year! Way to go numbnuts!
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|If, as they say, Prada hits Asia before iPhone does, it should be an interesting year for comparative sales results.
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|The LG Prada phone is being released initially in Europe and it doesn't have 3G support? Isn't HSPDA fairly widespread throughout Europe? If phones like the Apple iPhone and LG Prada don't support HSPDA/UMTS there is absolutely no point in wasting your money on it.
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|ANOTHER cingular phone???
That's the one and only reason I'm not going to buy the iPhone! That's the main reason MOST people aren't going to buy the iPhone (except for cost, of course).
What the hell are they thinking?...
That aside, it's good to see that this sort of technology is actually emerging in the cell phone market quicker than I thought... I figured it would take years after the iPhone's released before cell phone makers venture into touch screens... which in my opinion is going to be the future of portable devices.
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|1. What if LG is the manufacturer for the Apple iPhone?
2. And how is LG phone a me-too device if it is released ealier than the Apple iPhone?
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|1. LG has nothing to do with the iPhone.
2. Betanews isn't claiming that the Prada is a me-too device. Quote: "... even though the LG phone may actually have been among a few to force Apple's hand."
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|I don't want EDGE! I want Wifi!
Seriously, I would pay $500 easily for a phone that runs Skype over wifi. Rather than a $50/mo contract, I can make cheap/free calls to anywhere in the world using city-wide wifi! That's a 10 month ROI!
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|If you want a phone with wifi and can use skype, thats easy.O2, Dopod, HTC phones have phones with Wifi with Windows Mobile 5.0.
And skype has a version for Windows Mobile 5.0 :).
I am using it in USA, and it works great. Just make sure you get 520 Mhz for the processor speed.
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|Skype over wifi already exists. Check it out.
http://www.netgear.com/H...sVoIP/Skype/SPH101.aspx
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|You are right, but if you think that cingular or any big telco will allow you to load skype on your mobile you're nuts (unfortunately). You'll have to trust in smaller companies who want to enter the mobile market trough alternatives. I know there are some already...
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|Mobile from large telco (3) with Skype installed (unlimited use) has already been launched in the UK!
See here: http://www.three.co.uk/xseries/index.omp
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|I haven't used 5.0, but I did get rid of a Windows Mobile device because it crashed at least once a day. I have a hard time believing they have gotten much better.
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