Handset maker brings younger users into the touchscreen smartphone market.
Samsung's belief in this market sector, and this new product family, was emphatically proved at a ridiculously lavish launch event in Milan.
Hundreds of execs from across Europe poured in to hear about Samsung's 'Journey Into Colour' with the Corby phones.
There will be three devices: a full-touch handset, a Blackberry-style qwerty (CorbyTXT) and one with a slider keyboard (CorbyPRO).
In the UK and France, these devices will be branded as Genio.
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All will ship with built-in access to social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. There will also be 25 widgets pre-loaded, with a link to downloading 50 more.
For all the relative sophistication inside the devices - and they start from 150 euros pre-subsidy - it's the dramatic colouring that will probably grab younger consumers' attention. The four hues are: Jamaican Yellow, Cupid Pink, Minimal White, and Festival Orange.
Interestingly, Samsung opted to keep its proprietary OS here, despite the sophistication of the Corby. It did so to keep the UI simple and tailored for young users.
Features common to all Corbys include Touchwiz UI and haptic feedback, one finger zoom, 2mp camera, music player and built-in links to photo sharing and video sharing sites.
The CorbyTxT will be called the Genio Qwerty in the UK, for obvious reasons.
ME's Tim Green was in Milan. We'll publish his Q&A with Samsung top brass shortly.
