The loss-making mobile phones unit of German engineering conglomerate Siemens launched its first self-made third-generation mobile phone on Wednesday, the first of two expected this year. The SXG75, with built-in GPS navigation system made by Siemens's VDO division, will go on sale in the third quarter of this year and will retail at 500 to 700 euros ($663 to $928) when not sold with an operator contract discount.
Joern Watzke, in charge of bringing new Siemens's UMTS mobile phones to market, said he expected to sell at least 1 million of the phones over the model's lifetime of about a year.
Third-generation phones, which have picture, video and Internet capabilities, have been on the market in Europe for two years. The first models failed to sell in large numbers as they were perceived to be clumsy and their battery life was short.
The SXG75, launched at CeBIT, the world's biggest electronics trade fair, will compete with such models as Motorola's own E1000 multi-media phone and is built on a Qualcomm chipset.
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