South Korea's LG Electronics Co on Thursday launched a new mobile phone incorporating a buttonless touch-screen that resembles the much-hyped Apple Inc iPhone -- and will be in stores next month.
LG's Prada Phone is being produced in partnership with the Italian fashion brand. It is set to go on sale in late February for 600 euros (US$780) at mobile phone dealers and Prada stores in Britain, France, Germany and Italy. It comes to Asia in March.
The no-button interface with the entire phone face covered by a touch-sensitive screen resembles the Apple iPhone, announced by the US company earlier this month to much fanfare as an innovation that could shake up the industry.
Apple's iPhone is set for US release in June, and will cost US$599 for the high-end model with 8 gigabytes of internal memory -- the same as the LG model.
Other markets will see the iPhone later this year and next year.
The LG phone has a wide-screen display and can play most popular digital music and video formats, and has a 2-megapixel camera like the iPhone. Its memory can be expanded with cards.
The iPhone allows Internet use also through regular wireless Wi-Fi networks, and has a full-featured Web browser.
The LG phone is 12mm thick, just 0.4mm more than the iPhone.
Meanwhile, Apple will have plenty of room to eventually reduce the retail price of its upcoming iPhone, according to preliminary gross margin estimates by a market research company.
The iPhone will yield gross margins of more than 50 percent at the current set of retail prices, iSuppli Corp said in an analysis of presumed component and manufacturing costs.
The 4-gigabyte version of the iPhone, with a retail price of US$499,will cost Apple US$245.83 to make, iSuppli estimated.
The 8-gigabyte version, which is priced at US$599, will cost Apple US$280.83.
"With a 50 percent gross margin, Apple is setting itself up for aggressive price declines going forward," said Jagdish Rebello, a director and principal analyst with research firm iSuppli.
Since Apple will face stiff competition in the cell phone market, the company may need to cut into its margins to reduce pricing in the future, he said.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
The Apple iPhone will be available starting in June exclusively through AT&T's Cingular Wireless. Apple has said it hopes to sell 10 million units next year, or about 1 percent of the market.
That goal "seems attainable," Rebello said.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
RSS