6 February 2007
OK. Vertu is like an old-school Nokia cell phone from, like, 5 years ago given a nice packaging. Can someone tell me why this is worth over six thousand dollars, please? My first cell phone that has nearly the same technology as the Vertu cost me 20 dollars with a contract. I could have bought 320 of these phones for the same price as one racetrack series phone. And it’s not like you are going to slip in the same technology that a current 2007 smartphone has somehow. In other words: RICH PEOPLE! THIS PHONE IS A SCAM! If you want a really cool phone that is beautiful and will impress your other rich friends then wait a couple of months and get an iPhone by Apple. If you need diamonds on the phone, then get a local craftsman to add a few.
The racetrack series isn’t even close to being the most expensive Vertu phone. They also make a diamond encrusted version that prices in the five digits. Let’s hope your cell phone company never drops this model.
Object: Racetrack Legends Cell Phone
Manufacturer: Vertu
URL: www.vertu.com
Price: $6,400
Lust Factor: Tepid
Categories: $5,000-10,000 | Consumer Technology | Lust Factor: Tepid
People who viewed this also viewed:
Comments: 7 Comments
February 6th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
[...] Read more, click Design Crack [...]
February 7th, 2007 at 1:02 am
Vertu is not the scam. Its the carriers promoting phones that have 9000 features on them (camera, keyboard, bluetooth, wifi, ….blah, blah, blah) that 10% of the market uses.
What Vertu does 100% right is design a phone that is a phone and a phone only. If you are paying that much money for a phone it should work. Not half-assed like most phones these days that are some Marketer’s wet dream of a product that works for crap because it was pushed out the door before it was ready for prime time.
Nokia is actually doing something right with Vertu. Hell, as far as you know the ApplePhone will drop calls every 20 minutes. Wait until people can actually touch and use it before you trump up ApplePhone.
February 7th, 2007 at 1:34 am
Jon, You’ve got a good point here. I own a smart phone, and I miss my old, simple nokia that I bought for 20 bucks that was just a phone. It looks maybe from your website that you did some design work on the phone perhaps. The ID and interaction design is quite nice, there is no doubt about it, but this is not really the point. The point for me is: while some companies market tons of gadgets for several hundred dollars, the Vertu markets a lifestyle at several thousand dollars. This phone I’m showing in this post is $6,400. Did you know that the racetrack legends series comes in a box set of six (i.e. $35,000+)? This is such a joke that these things are worth treating as if they were art to be held in a precious box. Jeff Koons would be proud of Vertu. I guess what I’m getting at is the Vertu branding and price is so incredibly excessive that it makes me kind of sick.
February 7th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
What makes you sick?
There are all levels of markets. I don’t hold it against anyone who can afford a Vertu. (Most) People who can afford it have worked hard to make that kind of money, or had a great idea to get there (but there’s always the Paris Hiltons of the world who were born into it).
There’s other things to consider with phones like this…they are’t land fill like every other phone on the market. They are more likely to become heirlooms. Technologically, the owner could go back to Vertu and have it upgraded to the latest tech b/c the technology won’t grow in size.
The materials used (titanium, leather, etc.) will wear, not wear out.
I believe it also comes with a conceirge service. Personalized mapquest (to oversimplify).
No, I have never workd for Nokia or Vertu, I just see the virute (pun intended) in Vertu. I don’t hate them for finding a niche that I can’t touch on my income.
February 8th, 2007 at 3:07 am
Fair enough. Honestly, I don’t come down too hard on too many products, but I’m not hot on this one.
February 8th, 2007 at 5:11 am
I would say come down like a sledgehammer on the aesthetic of this phone. It LOOKS like a trumped up Nokia phone. Which I think is really sad. For the price tag this kind of phone could be something truly unique. But, then again, that may not be what this client is looking for.
June 21st, 2007 at 9:13 pm
I do not see anything exceptional about these phones. I definitely don’t think that it should cost 6,000 dollars!