Fashion Phone From LG, Prada Features Touch Screen

South Korean electronics conglomerate LG and Italian luxury goods and fashion brand Prada have partnered to create what they are calling the world's first completely touch screen mobile phone.

The ultrathin Prada Phone by LG (KE850) has an extra-wide LCD screen which "eliminates the conventional keypad making the overall usage experience a highly tactile one," the companies said in a release announcing the phone, which will be available in Europe in February and in Asia in March. It is priced at 600 Euros ($776).

The "tactile" element of the large-screen phone face is reminiscent of Apple CEO Steve Jobs' proclamation upon introducing the iPhone that the best stylus for navigating anything are one's 10 fingers.

The iPhone will be available in the U.S. in June, but won't be on sale in Europe until the end of the year and won't be in Asia until 2008.

Both phones also function as MP3 and video players and have a 2-megapixel camera, although the Prada phone lacks the iPhone's fully enabled Web browser.

The new product announcement appears to eclipse one of the iPhone's claims to novelty. Cisco Systems Inc., meanwhile, has sued Apple over the use of the name iPhone, which it owns and actively uses.

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