At the Milan fashion week event, Samsung Electronics announced a strategic alliance with fashion and lifestyle design firm Giorgio Armani for the development of consumer electronics products, beginning with the new Giorgio Armani-Samsung luxury mobile handset. The credit card-sized GPRS/EDGE device features a touch-sensitive 2.6 inch QVGA screen, haptical UI, 3 megapixel camera, music player and microSD memory slot. A specially-designed Armani leather carrying case in also included. The handset will be available at Armani flagship stores and selected mobile retailers across Europe in November 2007--pricing details were not announced.
"Today fashion has expanded to encompass our way of life, not just how we dress, but how we design our home, the hotels we stay in, the car we drive and the technology we buy," said Armani president and CEO Giorgio Armani in a prepared statement. "In fact, we make as much of a personal statement with the mobile phones that we carry or the televisions we have in our living rooms as we do with the shoes and bags we wear or the furnishings we chose to place in our homes. These are all lifestyle decisions, where design and performance are the criteria. Samsung has successfully anticipated the growing role for consumer electronics in our lives, while recognizing the importance of self-expression in the development of its products."
For more on the Samsung/Armani handset:
- read this release