Sculley's Obi Unveils New Smartphones

Obi Worldphone announced two smartphones on Wednesday, targeting fast growing markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.  Competing with lower-cost brands including Xiaomi, the Obi Worldphone SF1 and SJ 1.5 will have suggested retail prices of $199 and $129, respectively and will be available in October.

The Android (NASDAQ:GOOGL) phones were designed by San Francisco-based Ammunition and integrate technology from Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), Google, Samsung and others.

Former Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO John Sculley co-founded Obi Worldphone and told FOXBusiness.com that he sees opportunity in the competitive smartphone landscape because “the technology has gotten so commodotized that it’s affordable to be able to build no compromise technology products that can be sold at very aggressive price points.”

The SF1 has a fiberglass body and a 13 megapixel camera. The less expensive SJ 1.5 is a 3G smartphone with an 8 megapixel camera. Both have Corning Gorilla Glass (NYSE:GLW) screens on a 5-inch display.

Targeting regions with “rapidly growing youth populations,” the phones will be available in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, Pakistan, Turkey and India.

The smartphone market is saturated with competition, with Apple bringing in the most profit. Samsung sells the most phones and other leaders include Lenovo, Huawei, Xiaomi and LG.

Obi Worldphone launched last year and has been selling phones in India, Singapore and the Middle East.