Obi Worldphone Launches Silicon Valley Design on Powerful Smartphone for $199; Targeting Global Growth Markets

San FranciscoSeptember 1, 2015 – Taking a fresh approach, Obi Worldphone™ today introduces two high-quality, premium-designed smartphones priced at an exceptional value to attract discerning young people in fast-growth markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 

Designed by renowned San Francisco-based product studio Ammunition, Obi Worldphone™ SF1 and SJ1.5 are set apart by iconic industrial design. Ammunition also developed Obi Lifespeed, a custom user interface for Android that unifies the software and hardware experience. Obi integrates elegant design with high-end technology from Qualcomm, Dolby, Sony, Corning Incorporated, Google, MediaTek, Japan Display, Inc. and Samsung to deliver a powerful performance. Obi Worldphone is the first to address the market need between high-design smartphones at high prices and generic smartphones at low prices.  

“Over the next three years 1 billion users will upgrade from low-end, starter smartphones to models with more power and greater functionality," said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, Inc. of San Jose, Calif., a 35-year market analyst and research firm evaluating the global adoption of consumer technology. “The Obi Worldphone no-compromise design and aggressive pricing makes it very appealing to this audience as the market for smartphones expands and the upgrade market for smartphones accelerates.” 

Obi and Ammunition celebrate the new smartphones tonight at the Autodesk Gallery with Obi Worldphone co-founder John Sculley, former head of Apple and Pepsi-Cola and an international investor in consumer technology companies, and Robert Brunner, Ammunition’s founder and partner. 

"Obi has taken the best of Silicon Valley – innovations in design, state-of-the-art technology and high standards for manufacturing – and fused them into beautiful, powerful tools at attractive prices,” Sculley said. “Our efficient cost structure and broad distribution combine to present empowering tools that help our customers achieve their aspirations.”

“With Obi we set out to create beautiful, original smartphones that go beyond consumers’ expectations. From concept through to manufacturing, we’ve paid incredible attention to quality, materials and engineering to achieve the highest level of design,” Brunner said. “We’ve obsessed over every detail of the Obi experience — from industrial design, user interface and packaging — to deliver inspiring products that overturn the misconception that great design has to come at a high price.”