I agree that the LG phone is not as sophisticated as the iPhone I would not be too critical of it. In some ways its unfair to compare the two because LG does not have the same over all strategy that Apple has for its phone. The LG phone will find its market in people who want an iPhone but do not want to pay the high price.
For those who think Apple copied LG. Well both products were introduced at the same time. Its unlikely Apple knew anything about LG's phone. LG's software is all based on flash while the iPhone is based on OS X. Those are two completely different approaches. Something that Apple has had to have been working on for a while. Apple also bought the Multi-Touch technology two years ago, the LG phone is using general touch input.
I agree that the LG phone is not as sophisticated as the iPhone I would not be too critical of it. In some ways its unfair to compare the two because LG does not have the same over all strategy that Apple has for its phone. The LG phone will find its market in people who want an iPhone but do not want to pay the high price.
This version of the LG KE850 will not, I emphatically repeat, will not find a market with people who want a cheaper iPhone. It's a Prada branded phone, with Prada supposedly co-developing, co-marketing the phone with LG. LG and Prada only intend to sell about 100 of them at 1000% margin (or something like that).
As such, this cell phone is being sold for 550 to 600 euro. That's $700 to $800! Maybe in 2H 2007, LG might sell a dumber version in the USA with a better price. It won't have the Prada brand on it though. Prada and cheap don't mix.
So, yeah, to be fair, the LG Prada isn't meant to compete with the iPhone, smartphones, or even feature phone. It's meant to be a style phone with Prada's name behind it. Apple's publicity stunt with the iPhone at MWSF pretty much killed the LG Prada's cache or style with a phone that does everything cheaper, better, more capable and is currently planned to be $200 cheaper. No wonder LG is thinking about suing.
Prada would have been better taking a SE W950 or Nokia N93 and replacing the casing with aluminum or magnesium, and gold plating it. They could even alter the UI to be more stylish. It probably won't make a big enough margin for them though.
I guess an all touch screen, minimal UI might have looked stylish to the Prada people right up until they saw the iPhone and thought "Oh shit, our expensive cool signature fashion statement all of a sudden looks like sixties calculator!"
I agree that the lawsuit looks like a bid to get some product awareness out there before the iPhone hits and they can't give these things away (although I suppose there will always be at a few people who would buy the Prada name if it was on an aluminum foil covered oven mitt).
Product development times are so long that I don't understand how two weeks would make any difference. I think anyone that says "copy!" in this case is fooling themselves or are simply ignorant of what it takes to develop these things. If they want to make an accusation of industrial espionage, then that's possible but a little off the deep end as well.
There's only so much that can be done with a rectangular object, and it's the details that make the differentiation. The details are generally in the corners, edges, materials and colors, and three of those four are noticibly different between the two.
And how did they win an award for best design of 2007 when it's only January 16? Weird world we live in.
A few points:
2007 IF awards are for products released in 2006. Just like the 2007 Oscar winners will for movies released in 2006.
There is no "International Forum Design Award winner," and the LG phone didn't win it. There are a ton of winners, and LG was one of them. (Apple has "won" several of these as well.) IF awards (for design, materials, communication, concepts, etc.) are more branding tools (like "Made for Windows" or "As Seen on TV") than anything else. LG did not get the design award, but it did get a design award, along with dozens and dozens of other products. The 50 "Gold Award" winners, picked from the pool of "winners," will be announced March 15. So LG might not even get a "Gold Award," let alone "the" award (which, again, doesn't exist).
The fact that no "reporters" have bothered to look this up shows the sad state of journalism today.
Really? I hadn't heard that. Gizmodo says it will be about $500.
This particular Gizmodo blog addition is pretty far in left field, in terms of the price. The very link that Gizmodo links to, Cellular Magazine from Italy, has it for 550 Euro. Most every other site has it for 600 Euro. The Prada will only be available in Europe and East Asia in the next few months.
Unless the exchange rate gets a lot better for the dollar this year, the blog entry is playing pretty fast and loose with numbers and currency. Who knows, he may be one of those people who only thinks in increments of 500...
Comments
For those who think Apple copied LG. Well both products were introduced at the same time. Its unlikely Apple knew anything about LG's phone. LG's software is all based on flash while the iPhone is based on OS X. Those are two completely different approaches. Something that Apple has had to have been working on for a while. Apple also bought the Multi-Touch technology two years ago, the LG phone is using general touch input.
I agree that the LG phone is not as sophisticated as the iPhone I would not be too critical of it. In some ways its unfair to compare the two because LG does not have the same over all strategy that Apple has for its phone. The LG phone will find its market in people who want an iPhone but do not want to pay the high price.
This version of the LG KE850 will not, I emphatically repeat, will not find a market with people who want a cheaper iPhone. It's a Prada branded phone, with Prada supposedly co-developing, co-marketing the phone with LG. LG and Prada only intend to sell about 100 of them at 1000% margin (or something like that).
As such, this cell phone is being sold for 550 to 600 euro. That's $700 to $800! Maybe in 2H 2007, LG might sell a dumber version in the USA with a better price. It won't have the Prada brand on it though. Prada and cheap don't mix.
So, yeah, to be fair, the LG Prada isn't meant to compete with the iPhone, smartphones, or even feature phone. It's meant to be a style phone with Prada's name behind it. Apple's publicity stunt with the iPhone at MWSF pretty much killed the LG Prada's cache or style with a phone that does everything cheaper, better, more capable and is currently planned to be $200 cheaper. No wonder LG is thinking about suing.
Prada would have been better taking a SE W950 or Nokia N93 and replacing the casing with aluminum or magnesium, and gold plating it. They could even alter the UI to be more stylish. It probably won't make a big enough margin for them though.
I agree that the lawsuit looks like a bid to get some product awareness out there before the iPhone hits and they can't give these things away (although I suppose there will always be at a few people who would buy the Prada name if it was on an aluminum foil covered oven mitt).
LG and Prada only intend to sell about 100 of them at 1000% margin (or something like that).
Really? I hadn't heard that. Gizmodo says it will be about $500.
There's only so much that can be done with a rectangular object, and it's the details that make the differentiation. The details are generally in the corners, edges, materials and colors, and three of those four are noticibly different between the two.
And how did they win an award for best design of 2007 when it's only January 16? Weird world we live in.
A few points:
2007 IF awards are for products released in 2006. Just like the 2007 Oscar winners will for movies released in 2006.
There is no "International Forum Design Award winner," and the LG phone didn't win it. There are a ton of winners, and LG was one of them. (Apple has "won" several of these as well.) IF awards (for design, materials, communication, concepts, etc.) are more branding tools (like "Made for Windows" or "As Seen on TV") than anything else. LG did not get the design award, but it did get a design award, along with dozens and dozens of other products. The 50 "Gold Award" winners, picked from the pool of "winners," will be announced March 15. So LG might not even get a "Gold Award," let alone "the" award (which, again, doesn't exist).
The fact that no "reporters" have bothered to look this up shows the sad state of journalism today.
Really? I hadn't heard that. Gizmodo says it will be about $500.
This particular Gizmodo blog addition is pretty far in left field, in terms of the price. The very link that Gizmodo links to, Cellular Magazine from Italy, has it for 550 Euro. Most every other site has it for 600 Euro. The Prada will only be available in Europe and East Asia in the next few months.
Unless the exchange rate gets a lot better for the dollar this year, the blog entry is playing pretty fast and loose with numbers and currency. Who knows, he may be one of those people who only thinks in increments of 500...