Siemens Mobile was a Germanmobile phone manufacturer and adivision ofSiemens AG. Siemens sold Siemens Mobile to the Taiwan-basedBenQ in 2005, subsequently becomingBenQ-Siemens and succeeded byGigaset. The last Siemens-branded mobile phones, the AL21, A31 and AF51, were released in November 2005.
The first Siemens mobile phone, the Siemens Mobiltelefon C1, was launched in 1985. In 1994 theSiemens S1GSM phone was launched. In 1997 Siemens launched the first phone with a colour screen, theSiemens S10, with a screen capable of displaying red, green, blue and white. In the same year Siemens launched the first "outdoor" phone, the Siemens S10 Active, with enhanced shock, dust and splash protection. Siemens launched the first slider phone, theSiemens SL10, in 1999.
Siemens acquired the mobile phone division ofBosch in 2000. In the same year Siemens launched one of the first phones with anMP3 player and external memory card support (MultiMediaCard), theSiemens SL45.
In 2003 Siemens launched its first phone running on theSymbian OS operating system, theSiemens SX1. The phone featuredhot swappable MultiMediaCard. In the same year Siemens launched theXelibri range of fashion phones. In 2005 Siemens launched the first phone with realGPS support, theSiemens SXG75.
As of Q3 2000, Siemens had an 8.6% mobile handset market share, putting it behindEricsson,Motorola andNokia.[1] For the calendar year 2003, Siemens was again fourth behindSamsung, Motorola and Nokia, with a figure of 8.5%.[2] In 2004 it decreased to 7.2%.[3] Siemens Mobile was making large losses and plummeting sales at this time. By the first quarter of 2005, market share was down to 5.6% as it fell behind competitorsLG andSony Ericsson. Their Xelibri range of phones, which was the company's answer to the fashionable handset trend at the time, became a costly failure.[4]
On 7 June 2005, the Taiwanese companyBenQ agreed to acquire the loss-making Siemens Mobile from Siemens,[5] together with exclusive right to use the Siemens trademark on its mobile phones for 5 years.[6] Before transferring the mobile phone subsidiary to BenQ, Siemens invested 250 millioneuros and wrote down assets amounting to 100 millioneuros.[7] Siemens also acquired a 2.5% stake in BenQ for 50 million euros. BenQ subsequently released mobile phones under theBenQ-Siemens brand, from its German unit. In 2006 the German unit of BenQ filed for bankruptcy.[8][9]
Siemens restarted the production of mobile phones under theGigaset brand name.
Siemens A55:monochrome, GSM 900 / GSM 1800, noGPRS, noUSB, noIrDA orBluetooth. Shares same hardware as C55 and can be upgraded to C55 by firmware flash.
Siemens A56:monochrome, GSM 850 / GSM 1900, noGPRS, noUSB, noIrDA orBluetooth. Shares same hardware as C56 and can be upgraded to C56 by firmware flash.
Siemens CF110: TFT 130x130 display, GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900, no camera
Siemens CFX65 (the first Siemens clamshells form factor with built in VGA camera and flash. CFX65 is the only model of Siemens that had a torch, you close the flip and double press volume the up key to start the torch.)
Siemens CL50 (Developed By Arista)
Siemens CL55 (Developed By LG Electronics )
Siemens CL75, CL75 Black Edition, CL75 Poppy Edition
Siemens S65 DVBH, SXX65 (Concept phone) run on LINUX
Siemens S66 (Minor-changes for some countries), S66 or S65 (for Xingular)
Siemens S68 (rebranding and selling in BenQ-Siemens S68, the SP65 successors)
Siemens S75 ( FE75 Internal pre-models)
Siemens SF65 (co-development with Philips N.V. (France), the same models with Philips 760 twists)
Siemens SFG75 (Developed by BenQ, same with BenQ S80 UMTS)
Siemens SG75 (cancelled, in the same family with SXG75)
Siemens SK65, SK6B and SK6R (Co-development with The RIM BlackBerry and run parallels between "Siemens_X65 platform" and "BlackBerry 3.8 OS". Select BB Icons on Main Menu then press "Option"-> "About" for the BBOS version pre installed info.)
Siemens SK65 Burlwood Editions
Siemens SP65 (S65 without Camera)
Siemens SL10: the world firstly sliding mobile phone with a four-colour screen (Red, Green, Blue and White)
