It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others - De Montaigne
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Bottom drops out of the luxury phone market
THE LUXURY PHONE MARKET, which relies on those with far too much money and nothing to spend it on, has gone through the floor.
These days no one seems to want to spend thousands of quid for a luxury phone from the likes of Motorola, Bang & Olufson, LG or Vertu.
When the world was awash with cash, the ultra-wealthy couldn't get enough of devices that carried designer logos and displayed finely crafted materials such as sapphire and stainless steel.
Now, according to Wired, tossers are shying away from such gear as though it was chav bling. Avi Greengart, research director for consumer devices at Current Analysis, said the days of conspicuous consumption are over, at least until the next time.
Motorola cancelled the Ivory E18 which was supposed to hit the shops at around $3,000. Apparently the carriers didn't think they could sell it.
But while many would think that the luxury phone market should suffer during a recession, Wired points out that this hasn't been the case until just recently.
The buyers for such kit have not been just in the US. In fact a lot of them were in the former Eastern Bloc where appallingly tasteless gangsters and oligarchs had a lot of cash to splash around. However those have seen their fortunes suddenly slip away with falling oil prices.
Last October, Bang & Olufsen, whose phones had retailed in Europe for more than $1,500, killed off its mobile phone business along with the rest of its über-expensive bling bling range.
Vertu said it is still ploughing ahead with its business plan. It will launch its latest over-the-top handset, the Carbon Fibre Ascent Ti, in August. The phone is made of high-gloss carbon fibre and has a sandblasted titanium finish. The price tag? $9,800. Still, it is positively budget priced compared to the $90,000 platinum plated phone that the outfit also makes. Those probably haven't been selling in large volume lately either, we guess. µ
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Soon parted.
The "nouveux riche" will never be more than just bumpkins with money--not even "middle class."
I love it when those 'tossers' call up for settings and we have to tell them we cant send them OTA .. they feel like they deserve it since they paid 1k for their bit of bling.
On the flip side, they dont live in the same reality as us norms... so let them have their toys so less money is spent on lobbying governments.
One thing I think they have woken up to is that although the shell is uber expensive and shiny; the actually phone and firmware on the phone is usually 1 or 2 generations behind the cheaper ones. I guess the manufacturers feel there is not enough profit/churn in updating them so quickly.
ALSO .. Motorola making good expensive phones? I've not heard of them making a good phone '.' since the Razr V3 went south and I doubt they ever will again. The most surprising thing about the cancellation is that they aren't shutting up shop completely.
The real surprise is that those noisy "smart"phones that sport cheap plastic instead of gold or jewery but still cost a lot of money are still selling like hell.
At least the luxury ones have an excuse for the price tag.
I think they cancelled the Ivory E18 because the tossers were upset it didn't contain any... Tusk tusk..
I think they canceled the Ivory E18 because it's just plain ugly as hell.
I mean, look at this thing - I wouldn't be caught dead using it.
http://www.aboutcellulars.com/motorola-cell-phones/motorola-ivory-e18-a-cancelled-luxury-phone
if i was marketing a gimmick-based product i would hype the thing right up and stick an obscene pricetag on it to entrap the 'tossers' (good choice of word btw Dave)
then when the supply of gullible tossers have been exhausted, i would drop the price to its normal level
many industries operate this way because obviously there are many tossers out there to rip off.
"ooh i have to have it first"
"ooh i must camp outside the shop for 3 days prior to release"
are these people awaiting brain donors? they dont seem to function properly with the one they were born with....
Well, that certainly cheered me up Nick!
"Now, according to Wired, tossers are shying away from such gear..."
Now let's not cut any corners here. Tell it like it is. And I have to say, "Tossers" is a great way to descibe these lot.
(BTW: there was no mention of 'tossers' in the Wired article either, only by association)
Lot of love,
Dave xxx