BenQ Siemens M81
The Siemens M75The Siemens SX1Siemens cellular telephones were very early mobile phones, produced by Siemens AG. The company created the first phone with a colour screen, (the S10, with 4 different colours - red, green, blue and white - that could be displayed), the first "outdoor" phone (the S10 Active, with enhanced shock, dust and splash protection), the first slider phone (the SL10), the first phone with real GPS support (the SXG75) and probably the first phone with an MP3 player and external memory card support (MultiMediaCard) (Siemens SL45).
In 2005 the Taiwanese company BenQ acquired the financially bleeding mobile phone subsidiary from Siemens and gained the exclusive right to use Siemens trademark for 5 years. Before transferring the mobile phone subsidiary to BenQ, Siemens invested 250 million euros and wrote down assets amounting to 100 million euros (www. newratings. BenQ. com: Siemens sells mobile phone unit to BenQ). Siemens also acquired a 2. 5% stake in BenQ for 50 million euros. Recently,Siemens and BenQ have conjoined to release mobile phones under the BenQ-Siemens brand.