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Luxury Phone-maker Vertu Collapses (bbc.com)
A British-based company that made smartphones costing thousands of pounds will be liquidated after a plan to save it failed. From a report: Vertu was known for its high-end, jewel-encrusted handsets, but recently faced financial difficulties. The company's liquidation will result in the loss of nearly 200 jobs. One technology analyst said Vertu would have faced competition from companies offering to customise other smartphones with precious materials. Vertu phones carry hefty price tags -- its Signature range starts at 11,100 pound ($14,350) and one model featuring 18-carat red gold costs 39,100 pound ($50,600). When contacted by the BBC, an external spokesman for the firm said: "Well it's gone into liquidation and I'm not being paid by them any more."
Even worse, by the time the company got done designing then implementing the gold-plating and vajazzling, the phones were already obsolete, and the final nail in the coffin was the ability to produce replacement backs and cases by the tens of thousands in whatever color or print or texture that the user wanted, purchasable for $10-$100 each.
The only people that would buy what this company made are buying for the express purpose of showing off. Even among the rich that number might be fairly small as you have to be obscenely rich in order to spend money that frivolously without it starting to affect your bottom line, and even then not all obscenely rich people spend like drunken sailors on shore leave.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
No matter how much money you have; you'd have to be a real pretentious douche bag to buy one of these. And a real pretentious douche bag to sell one of these.
If I saw someone using one of these there would definitely be an urge in my gut to punch him in the face.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
It was the concierge button. THAT was what made Vertu great. You push a button, you're instantly connected to a personal concierge who would arrange whatever you needed. Dinner reservations, flights, flower delivery, dry cleaning, etc. The Vertu phone came with a lifetime concierge-on-demand service. What killed it was the expansion of Google Voice/Siri type apps and integration with other vendors. You no longer needed a human to do that for you...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
And nothing of value was lost.
n2ch
How long a contract do I need to sign to get a free one from Verizon?
6 months... ... your liver... both kidney's and your corneas.
People that are actually rich just want the latest Android or iPhone. Their full time assistants buy it for them. They spend their money on other things that rich people appreciate, like buying power, acquiring competitor's companies, flying on private jets, etc. They don't need an app to dial a free assistant service, because even their private assistants have assistants. This was a phone marketed at people that want to pretend they are rich with their friends.
Just because I can hook a shark from a boat, I do no offer to wrestle it in the water.
If I saw someone using one of these there would definitely be an urge in my gut to punch him in the face.
You have issues, tbh
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."