Samsung unveils its version of iPhone
Published 9:00 pm Friday, February 9, 2007
SEOUL, South Korea – Samsung Electronics Co. has unveiled a new mobile phone that features some of the sleek design and functions of Apple Inc.’s much-hyped iPhone.
Samsung’s Ultra Smart F700 will be exhibited at next week’s 3GSM World Congress, a telecommunications exhibition in Barcelona, Spain, Samsung spokeswoman Sonia Kim said.
Mobile phone makers have been scrambling to match the iPhone, unveiled last month by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The device, which will be available starting in June, marks the iPod and Macintosh computer maker’s entry into the mobile phone business.
The ultra-thin iPhone has a touch screen as its controller, plays music, has a Web browser, and runs a version of the Mac OS X operating system.
Samsung said the Ultra Smart F700 also has a full touch screen as well as a traditional QWERTY key pad that slides out “for users who are not yet familiar with a touch-screen-only user interface.”
The phone can also access the Internet, play music, take pictures, show videos, handle e-mail and share photos, said Samsung, the world’s third-largest manufacturer of mobile phone handsets.
Its third-generation technology, dubbed 3G, is considerably faster than the iPhone’s EDGE system, and its 5-megapixel camera outclasses the iPhone’s 2-megapixel camera.
Apple’s iPhone will cost $599 for the high-end model.
Kim, the Samsung spokeswoman, said marketing plans for the Ultra Smart F700 remain unclear because the company wants to see what kind of reaction it receives at the Barcelona show.
