Luxury Handsets: Fashion Goes Mobile

• Author: Fendi
• Filed under: Alternative Lifestyle
• Date: Sep 4,2008

A boutique on the Champs-Élysées in Paris carries a mélange of luxury-brand items from such fashion designers as Prada and Giorgio Armani. But unlike in most luxury retail stores, you won’t find towering ceilings, track lighting, or crystal display cases for the items. The designer products sold in this small shop are fashion phones.

Handsets are no longer just a tool for communicating in the modern world. They have become status-defining lifestyle products. In recent years, leading handset manufacturers, such as Nokia (NOK), Samsung, and LG Electronics, have paired up with such prominent, high-end labels as Prada, Armani, and Ferrari to capitalize on the intersection between their respective customer bases. By turning phones into fashion accessories akin to handbags or sunglasses, each industry is likely to boost its brand equity and set new design trends, according to a study by market research firm ABI Research.

The products now being developed by these telecom-fashion partnerships are far more sophisticated than those of a few years ago. As the market develops, fashion houses are playing a greater role than ever in specifying features and designing the look of the handsets that carry their names. Some are even eschewing relationships with established phone makers and developing their own products, which are manufactured under contract by specialty producers.

Post under: Fashion Goes Mobile
/News of the World