The entry-level C35i, meanwhile, retails at about half the price of a Nokia 7110, while offering a trendy look and a longer battery life in a lightweight frame. That's hardly a word you associate with this old German giant, but the new Siemens Information and Communication Mobile division established this April is determined to show a more consumer-friendly face to the world. At CommunicAsia2000, Siemens officially launched the C35i, M35i and S35i in the region and announced that it plans to become the number three mobile phone vendor in the Asia Pacific, with at least a 15 percent market share next year. In Europe, Siemens is already number three behind Nokia and Motorola in mobile phone sales, having overtaken Alcatel and Ericsson thanks to the strong sales of the C35i. One of the new keys to this success is not only the boring old reliance on the quality of German engineering, but a realization that a new lifestyle approach is needed if Siemens hopes to duke it out with cool competitors like Nokia and Ericsson.
Fashion is just as important as technology.
We don't want to make phones as big as shoeboxes. While nobody might have believed that it was possible to knock some fashion sense into Siemens, the new phones do look cool. All three continue the rounded, ergonomic design we first saw in Siemens with the C25, which was one of the most successful models sold with the Smart Buddy prepaid service. Boulloy quipped that he was bringing a French influence to the German company and in a later interview I remarked that this was particularly evident in the racy commercial for the C35i. Seriously, however, you have to wonder how Siemens was able to make its WAP phones so small and lightweight.