Jas Business Blog

India has not only seen an impressive growth in IT sector but the telecom sector too has shown sky rocketing growth. The Indian call rates in mobile telephony are lowest in world, and you can see the impact. You are riding in a rickshaw in India and in middle of your travel the driver stops as he has got a call from his friend to goto some place asap as there are foreigners willing to pay more; or you don’t have call balance left in your cell, you are outside the hostel of your girlfriend and the guard there offers you his Nokia 1100 for a call or your sweeper gives you his/her ‘contact number‘. The examples are galore, it has also been proved already that we Indians like to talk a lot and the kind of money an average middle class person is earning makes him/her keen to show the ‘class’ using best of handsets and best of features. Mobile handset market has been showing huge double digit growth. In this situation how long could a person stay satisfied having their 6600/ N-Series / Walkman / Razr handsets? And if we can see all this in India, how the hell can the elite in Europe or US stay calm with their options?!

For many the handset is a style statement, it shows your profile to others. So companies like Nokia had changed from giving instruments to gadgets to lifestyle statements. One of such offering by Nokia, and the most expensive one is Vertu.

Vertu is an independently run British-based manufacturer and retailer of luxury mobile phones. The company is wholly-owned subsidiary of the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia. Its most expensive model ever made is the Signature Cobra, at US$310,000 ; the most expensive regular model is the Signature Diamond at US$88,000. Its competition is not mobile phone makers but the ones in league of Rolex or TAG Heuer. The mobiles are made from very expensive materials such as gold, sapphires (for the mobile screen), rubies (for the bearings) and fine leather. Plus, each mobile is hand-made in it factories in United Kingdom and Germany. Its mobiles are only available in its own branded stores, leading department stores such as Harrods in London, and authorized retailers.

To commemorate 60th anniversary of Ferrari, Vertu had launched a new phone, the Vertu Ascent Ferrari 1947 Limited Edition. Using hand-polished titanium for the chassis the limited edition handset draws inspiration from Ferrari GT cars and is quite visible. Seemingly Vertu worked closely with Ferrari’s design team to develop this exclusive limited edition phone. The nose on the front of the phone features the famed Ferrari Prancing Horse, while on the rear back plate there is a scaled down iconic Ferrari brake pedal, crafted from high-graded aluminum, like that used in Ferrari cars. But the designers did not stop here, to underline the exclusivity of the Vertu Ascent Ferrari 1947 Limited Edition each piece is individually serialized from 1 to 1947 – paying homage to the very year when the first car to bear the Prancing Horse marque was built by the founder, Enzo Ferrari.

In summer season collection Vertu had launched Vertu Ascent in Strawberry and Cream options. The Ascent range is crafted from premium fine leather and is hand finished. The leather is resistant to normal spoilers like lipstick, petroleum etc. The normal range is available in other colors too. Lightweight at six ounces, Ascent range has got a balanced weight. It’s made of ceramic, stainless steel and a durable alloy called Liquidmetal, finished with hand-sewn leather and a screen of sapphire crystal, a material second only to diamond in hardness.

When launched, the phone used to come with a free year of Vertu Concierge service. There would be London-based “global advisers” which are available at all hours of the day or night, and can handle travel and entertainment arrangements as well as “international assistance” worldwide.