(Korea Times via NewsEdge) Samsung said it will launch a multimedia touch-screen mobile phone in Europe in November, hoping to win the premium phone war sparked by Apple's iPhone.
The mobile hybrid, codenamed F700, has a full touch-screen control but distinguishes itself from the iPhone with a QWERTY keypad hidden underneath it.
The company plans to sell it in Germany, Britain and France from November, and in Southeast Asia and North America early next year.
The handset drew big attention earlier this month when its new screen interface called Croix received the iF Communication Design Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the world.
Samsung is confident that the new handset will outperform the iPhone.
Samsung is the world's second largest mobile phone manufacturer after Nokia. The firm, like many others, has been concerned by the debut of the iPhone in the US though its sales in the first few months are believed to be lower than what Samsung had previously expected.
Not to yield their ground to Apple, a computer firm, traditional phone makers have all been developing touch-screen phones of their own. LG released a series of touch-screen phones early this year.
Samsung said the price is not fixed yet but will be around that of the iPhone. Apple recently lowered iPhone's price from $599 to $399 for an 8Gb model.
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