Samsung's Braille Mobile Phone
Wins Gold Award at the IDEA 2006 Awards
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., announced on July 3 that its Braille mobile phone for the visually impaired (model name: Touch Messenger) won the Gold Award at the Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), one of the world's most authoritative design competitions, sponsored by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and BusinessWeek.
Samsung's world's first battery-operated projector (model name: Pocket Imager SP-P300MK) and portable wireless projector (model name: Portable Digital Projector) also won Silver Awards in the Business & Industrial Products and Design Explorations category, respectively.
Samsung won a total of 19 awards in accumulative results during the last five years, according to the IDEA, ranked No.1 Company with largest number of awards.
The "Touch Messenger"is a product designed by Samsung Design China based in Shanghai, China, a country with about 9 million visually impaired people. The product is assessed as a successful result of Samsung's global design strategy, That is, products suited for local needs and characteristics should be designed and planned by obtaining inspiration from local markets in countries around the world.
The innovative Touch Messenger enables the visually impaired users to send and receive Braille text messages. The 3×4 button on the cell phone is used as two Braille keypads and text messages can be checked through the Braille display screen in the lower part. Once this product is commercialized, it is expected to dramatically boost the quality of life for visually impaired people, numbering as many as 180 million worldwide.
Samsung's mobile phone for the visually impaired, "Touch Messenger,"is regarded as a demonstration of the company's future design direction, "human-oriented high-tech products."Meanwhile, Samsung also won the Silver Award in the Design Explorations category with its portable wireless projector named "portable Digital Projector."In addition, in the Business & Industrial Products category, Samsung's portable projector "Pocket Imager SP-P300MK"won the Silver Award. This portable projector is the first in the world designed to be operated with a rechargeable battery so it is the world's smallest DLP (Digital Lighting Processing) projector that can be used in any locale, even where power connection does not exist.
When the IDEA winners of the past 10 years are reviewed, Samsung won 35 awards since 1997, recording the largest number of awards and outnumbering all the competitors in the industry. Samsung could reach this achievement due to consumer centric approaches of the company in every process of its business.
Samsung Global Design Network comprises the global design hubs of Samsung Electronics established in six cities in five countries, namely San Francisco and Los Angeles in the United States, London in the U.K., Tokyo in Japan, Milan in Italy, and Shanghai in China. nw