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Vertu, Phone-Maker To the Rich, Says It's Broke (gizmodo.com)
A British-based luxury phone maker which made its name selling $50,000 smartphones decked out in alligator leather and titanium and fitted with sapphire screens, has applied to the courts to be placed in administration after running of out money to pay staff and suppliers, (paywalled) reports British outlet The Times. In a witness statement filed in the High Court in London yesterday, the report adds, the company's last remaining director Jean-Charles Charki, said that Vertu was insolvent and unable to meet its June 30 payroll obligations of about 500,000 euros. From an earlier report: According to a juicy new report in the Telegraph, employees are worried about the future of the company after noticing that production had been running at reduced capacity. Employees are apparently worried about their unpaid wages, as well as pension contributions taken out of their paychecks without being added into the company's retirement fund. Sources inside the company also told the Telegraph that Vertu has unpaid debts with suppliers such as Qualcomm and Microsoft, and bills from waste management, pest control, and other property services.
Wouldn't this be fraud? Punishable by jail? Well, if we actually jailed non-brown people the way we jail brown people...
Their payroll obligations are 500,000 Euros? How many employees do they have? Five?
Breakfast served all day!
I will give them credit for phones that look sharp and a different style as compared to the minimalist design that we are seeing on smartphones. They also have a nice Android skin as well.
However, of all things out there, electronics that are not "timeless" are not really status symbols past a certain point. Even Apple learned this with the Apple Watch Edition, which its five digit price tag apparently didn't have many takers since Apple wound up killing it, and moving the name to a ceramic model with a price an order of magnitude less.
Electronics are not exactly the top dog for conspicuous consumption. The expensive smartphone of today would be a laughingstock six months from now when the latest models come out. Especially without another brand to attach it to. If a smartphone had a built in remote and key for a Bugatti, it might command a price premium. However, Vertu's name is recognized, but it isn't recognized enough to be worth the cost.
Vertu definitely has a niche. If they sell the same products for the same price, but buy a license to use supercar logos or something with horse racing, they would have products that would be purchased. However, smartphones are something that might be used for 6-12 months and then tossed.
Another possibility would have been to do like Louis Vuitton and make cases for existing devices. Supposedly, the quad-digit Eye-Trunk by LV sells like hotcakes, especially as part of a general accessory set.
At best they could piggyback on an existing OEM/ODM to have a custom unit. However, it will always be behind the curve, technologically. So, it would have to actually pack features that are more than increased CPU/RAM/storage. The push button concierge was a good idea, but it seems to be suspended until this September. However, at the wealth level it is being aimed it, people already have their own twin-key reps at their beck and call.
The trick is to sell something that would be "worth" buying to the conspicuous consumption types. Electronics and smartphones have a market, but not at the price point Vertu is aiming at. If the price was lower, and it came with an option that the device could be used as a RFID pass to all airport lounges, it would be something execs would snap up. No, it wouldn't be money made on price, but relative volume, and still a low enough volume that the devices would be definitely uncommon.
Their vacuum tube supplier went out of business.
If you've never heard it before though, you really should. The sound is amazing. So much warmer than those digital cellphones.
Donald Trump uses a plain off-the-shelf Samsung, probably a Galaxy S3.
-- Insert witty one-liner here. --
Will anyone be buying them up and supporting the phones that have made it to market?
Twinstiq, game news
Well then, they should take it away from him. Maybe also make him sit in the corner for a few weeks to think about what he did wrong.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Nice comment. I always thought that conspicuous consumption is a consequence of severe psychological problems.
With the growing number of people who feel excluded from production, they will eventually become comfortable with that and stop buying crap.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Do they actually make phones, or just re-shell existing ones?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Did they make Windows phones? How do they have debt to Microsoft?
They did, back in March. Apparently you were too busy trolling on Slashdot to notice?
http://bgr.com/2017/03/29/ipho...
It was incredibly stupid of him to do that for so long, but before he was Emperor Cheeto , it didn't really matter when all he used it for was Witter.
Man is the animal that laughs.
And occasionally whores for Karma.