The SK65 from Siemens Communications – a mobile phone with an integrated typing keyboard and BlackBerry functionality – has received the IF Design Award, Reddot Design Award and the GSM Association Award.
The SK65 is the first mobile phone to offer complete e-mail communication via its BlackBerry function. This mobile phone has a rotating x2type (cross-to-type) keyboard that enables rapid entry of data. A full-scale keyboard appears when the two shells of the phone are rotated by 90 degrees. When opened up in the form of a cross, the keyboard can be used on a tabletop or held in the user’s hand. The IF Design Award has been conferred for more than fifty years in acknowledgement of unusual and innovative design solutions. The IF Design Award is also known as the “Design Oscar” awards.
In addition, the Design Center Nordrhein Westfalen has bestowed the Reddot Design Award on the SK65. This renowned prize for product design is awarded by the international jury to the best, most innovative and most outstanding products in terms of quality and design. A total of 1,857 entries from 36 countries entered this year’s contest. The certificate will be presented on July 4, 2005, at the Aalto Theater in Essen. The SK65 can then be seen at the Reddot Design Museum as part of a four-week special exhibition entitled “Design Innovations 2005.”
The SK65 had already received an award in February 2005: At the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes (France) the jury gave the SK65 the GSM Association Award in the category “Best Mobile Handset”.
