January 19, 2005 Korea's SK Telecom has announced the launch of the 'Helper Phone', the first mobile phone developed exclusively for visually handicapped people. The phone is designed to help the world's 50 million blind people conveniently use their mobile phone through a voice enabled cellular function guide. The 'Helper Phone' is Samsung Electronics' SCH-E580 model. It offers special voice guidance to customers through the voice helper mode on the handset.

'Helper Phone' is By pressing number '5' on the cellular screen a little bit longer than the regular pressing time, a voice helper mode will be automatically activated for visually handicapped customer convenience. SK Telecom, Samsung Electronics, the Korea Blind Union and Intro Mobile are combining in Korea to further develop the 'Helper Phone' for Korea's 280,000 visually handicapped people. http://www.sktelecom.com/