LG's KE850 Prada phone gets official unveiling - and imminent ...

Can't wait for the iPhone to arrive? Well, you can get your hands on another very fashionable handset much sooner when the LG KE850 Prada phone arrives in Europe next month.

Like the iPhone (but beating it to market), the KE850, sized at just 98.8 × 54 × 12mm, is a touchscreen-only mobile phone, in this case using a 3-inch display with 240x400 resolution. The display is a minimalist white on black - no iPhone-style coloured icons here.

In terms of specifications, the KE850 is tri-band, EDGE compatible and features a 2 megapixel camera with Schneider-Kreuznach lens and LED flash, Bluetooth 2.0, an MPEG4 video player and an audio player with MP3/ACC/ACC+/WMA/RA support. There's also a document viewer supporting Microsoft's PPT, DOC, XLS formats, plus PDF and TXT.

LG Prada v2 to include T-DMB mobile TV?

The scuttlebutt from Telecoms Korea says v2 of the LG Prada (KE850) is already in the works. Sorry US readers, they're not adding the 850MHz band just yet, the new version expected to hit in April will sport terrestrial DMB mobile television. Makes sense, since our friends on the Korean Peninsula loves 'em some mobile TV tech something fierce. But man, how did they convince the Prada execs to approve a design-mucking, telescoping antenna typically needed for T-DMB reception in Korea? By the way, that's our rendering pictured up there -- not LG's -- but we'll bet it's not far off from the final product. Anyway, with the US in the throws of a Qualcomm FLO fest, our apparently pedestrian tastes look even less likely to be fed anytime soon. Well, until June anyway.Read -- Telecoms Korea (subscription required) .

LG has two Windows Mobile 6 devices slated, one similar to the Prada

We don't have much information yet, but as you may have noticed, LG is now on Microsoft's official list for Windows Mobile licensees. We have it on authority that they've got two devices planned, one of which being a Windows Mobile take on their KE850 Prada Phone. Being that Microsoft mandates Windows Mobile devices require a certain minimum of hard buttons to operate, LG is working on a specially tweaked WM6 Pro interface to make their device actually usable without all those cluttering buttons. The other device LG's working on, as we understand, is something a little more Chocolate-like. More, of course, as we get it. .

CEOs Discuss the Mobile Phone Market: Nokia, Qualcomm, Synaptics, Infineon, Agere

Interesting quotes from CEOs and CFOs on recent earnings conference calls, discussing their companies and markets:

Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo

Net sales grew 13% in Q4 and 20% in 2006. Operating profit excluding special items grew 12% in Q4 and 18% in '06. Diluted EPS excluding special items grew 20% in Q4 and 29% in '06. Device volumes grew 26% in Q4 and 31% in 2006, and our world leading device market share of 36% grew two points in Q4 and three points in 2006.

In fact, we have been able to increase our market share and we have maintained a very healthy gap from Motorola. And based on our strengths of world-class brand products, cost structure, and logistics, we were able to increase our device market share significantly in 2006 without sacrificing operating margins or cash flow.