Apple iPhone Design Stolen from LG? I don’t think so.

This is one of those stories everyone could see coming, but it’s still no less ridiculous. It seems LG have accused Apple of stealing the design of the iPhone from their “Prada” phone after it was shown off last september winning a design award.

“We consider that Apple copycat [the] Prada phone after the design was unveiled when it was presented in the iF Design Award and won the prize in September 2006,” said Mr. Woo-Young Kwak.

There’s one tiny flaw in Mr. Woo-Young Kwak’s argument however. Does he really think you could turn around that complex a design, and have all the tightly packed electronics fit so perfectly, have everything function enough to show it to the public, and have it ready for FCC submission, all between September and January? I give Apple all the credit in the world, but they’re not that good.

Both have full front face touch screens, so there really is a limit on how you can design a phone based around that, so of course they look similar, but having said that, there the similarity between the “prada” and the iPhone clearly ends. The software that was seen on the you tube demonstration of the Phone that had been floating around is clearly a far cry from the interface design of the iPhone. I suspect that in part, LG is just suffering from sour grapes because their award winning design was usurped by Apple’s january announcements. Of course, if they spent a little more time on the software rather than sulk over Apple stealing their lime light perhaps they might better against the Apple device, rather than trying to convine the public to buy an inferior Phone that’s even more expensive than the much complained about iPhone. Then again, the rest of the cell phone industry has never cared very much about the software on their phones so why should LG be the one to start?

Of corse a slew of other manufacturers are undoubtedly bolting touch screens onto their products thinking that’s why the iPhone is going to succeed (clearly missing the point of the iPhone software) while still suffering users with the default windows mobile interface, or even worse, symbian.

The irony is, Apple’s entry into the phone market may actually be a boon for other cell phone makers. the iPhone is clearly not for everyone, based on price and network provider alone, but it’s mere presence increases awareness of the “smart phone” from those who would have otherwise not considered such a model. In the end it’s quite possible that mid priced smart phones may actually benefit from the iPhone. Well, At least until the iPhone nano comes out !

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