LG Cries Foul Over iPhone Design

LG Electronics is reportedly accusing Apple of stealing the concept of its much-hyped iPhone from LG's own Prada model.

According to a Korean website, Woo-Young Kwak, head of LG Mobile Handset R&D Center,at a press conference said, "We consider that Apple copied Prada phone after the design was unveiled when it was presented in the iF Design Award and won the prize in September 2006."

While both phones were released around the same time, with roughly similar appearance, it was unclear which of the companies copied the design concept. Now, LG has openly declared that Apple is guilty for copying theirs. However, there is no news of a lawsuit against Apple yet.

Experts have pointed out that the two phones differ in many aspects. The KE850 Prada phone, which claims to be the world’s 'first completely touch screen mobile phone', is a tri-band GSM handset with EDGE support, unlike the quad-band iPhone. It has a small 3-inch screen, with a resolution of 240x400, while the iPhone's display is .5 inch larger, with a 320x480 resolution. Also, the KE850's user interface is flash-based, whereas the iPhone runs OSX. Moreover, the Prada has Bluetooth 2.0, unlike the iPhone, which has WiFi capability.

The LG KE850 Prada is expected to sell for around US$780 (roughly Rs. 34,364) which makes it more expensive than the iPhone's estimated $699.

Apple lost a patent lawsuit with Creative Technology, over the user interface of the iPod. Apple ended up paying $100 million to the company for copyright infringement.

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