LG's New Prada Phone - Not an iPhone

LG Electronics unveiled its new Prada phone Thursday. While the company didn't claim it was competing with the heavily-hyped Apple iPhone, the two devices share many of the same features. One big difference is that the Prada phone doesn't offer Internet use with a full-featured Web browser through common WiFi networks.

In announcing Thursday the release of its new Prada phone, LG Electronics Latest News about LG Electronics didn't claim it was competing with the heavily-hyped Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Latest News about Apple iPhone scheduled to be released in June.

It didn't have to. The media did it on its own with headlines boldly suggesting the iPhone already had a competitor.

Similar Design

Indeed, the new Prada Phone looks a lot like the forthcoming iPhone. It's sleek and thin and it has a buttonless touch screen.

However, for all its smoothness and flatness, the Prada phone is an orange and the iPhone is -- you guessed it -- an Apple.

Like the iPhone, the Prada phone has a touch screen and a camera. Like the iPhone, it plays music and videos and it can show documents. Yet unlike the iPhone, the Prada phone doesn't allow Internet Free How-To Guide for Small Business Web Strategies - from domain name selection to site promotion. use with a full-featured Web browser through common WiFi Latest News about WiFi networks.

"I don't think that this is a direct competitor to the iPhone," said Chris Ambrosio, director of the wireless practice at Strategy Analytics. "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."