The devil uses LG Prada: Jobs

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 19 January 2007 09:09

Opinion and Analysis

We know there’s no Wi-Fi, so you can forget about fast Internet browsing, and of course while the Prada interface looks very slick and in some ways similar to the iPhone, there’s no desktop-class operating system underneath, nor any word of advanced features like push email, Google maps and whatever else Jobs has planned when the iPhone finally launches.

MacNewsWorld has quoted Chris Ambrosio, director of the wireless practice at Strategy Analytics, as saying that "I don't think that this is a direct competitor to the iPhone. LG is looking at this phone primarily to meet that continuing need for attractive style options and global markets. I think everybody wants to write about iPhone now and that's a hot headline."

Ambrosio continued that: "A mass market phone offering touch screen is a risky step, a brave step, for LG. What our research shows is users don't like touch screen panels [on mobile phones]. Touch screens have not been historically well-received in consumer use."

Some analysts believe that consumers find touch screens annoying, with one analyst pointing to high-end home theatre remote controls moving away from touch screens to models with buttons. But it’s clear that no remote control has ever come with an interface like the iPhone. Perhaps Apple can program a universal remote control program into the iPhone, although it would need an infrared port to work. Maybe we’ll see one in the iPhone 2.

MacNewsWorld also quote IDC Research Analyst Ramon Llamas, who reminds us that: "It's a Prada device. Prada is not for everybody. It's a very specific market segment for people who enjoy much higher-end, luxury devices. Is the iPhone just for upper echelon? No. It might be for tech-savvy people, but you don't have to be ultra-rich to get it."

So what is the price, especially compared with the iPhone? Well we know the 8Gb iPhone is US $599. But the LG Prada won’t be launched in the US, but in Europe (Britain, France, Germany and Italy) for around US $777 – interestingly $111 more than what the devil’s price surely would be. The phone will be launched in Asia after that.

So the LG Prada is definitely more expensive than the iPhone but not by that much. Given that Prada is a well known luxury brand, given the iPhone’s price it really doesn’t look that expensive.

The phone will launch in February, and will likely present little threat to future iPhone sales.