By Patrick Avenell

SYDNEY: Samsung held the local launch today for their official mobile phone of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The phone in question is the Samsung U900, a touch phone that attempts to fill some of the gaps missing in new 3G iPhone.

Aside from the touch user interaction that is now becoming standard in all new high-end phones, Samsung was particularly keen to stress four main features at their launch at the old Fox Studios.

First amongst these was the 5 megapixel camera, which is a stark improvement on the 2 megapixel camera on the new iPhone. Secondly, the phone is embedded with ShoZu software, which is intended to make accessing certain social networking sites more mobile phone-friendly. Thirdly, the U900 has an advertised internet speed of 7.2Mbps HSDPA, which Samsung claim is “20 times faster than 3G”. Finally, the U900 features audio software by Bang & Olufsen and a multi format music player.

“I am confident…that the Samsung U900 is set to be one of our best selling phones,” said Samsung Australia director Josh Delgado.

In addition to the launching the Olympic Games phone, Delgado also announced that Samsung currently sells a mobile phone every 15 seconds in Australia. This claim surprised and intrigued many of the journalists present at the launch. When questioned as to the veracity of this claim, Delgado explained that with yearly sales expected to be over 2 million in 2008, Samsung would, on an averaged scale, sell a mobile phone every 15 seconds.

Current.com.au will check in with Delgado throughout the year to confirm if they are maintaining this standard.