Designer brands usually offer a very extensive and diverse
product line. A lot of the popular names in the fashion and design industry
make clothes, shoes and bags. But some of them also produce perfumes, watches
and other accessories and electronic devices.
Mobile phones are the most well-known consumer electronic
products in which these fashion brands have collaborated with manufacturers and
succeeded in producing handsets that are sleek, chic and stylish and at the
same time being smart and useful. Here are a few examples of such devices.
Giorgio Armani and Samsung.
The Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani has a long
history with Korean electronics company Samsung. In fact the two labels started
creating mobile phones with the Armani badge as early as 2008. Their first two
releases were both feature phones that operated on a highly customized version
of Samsung’s Touchwiz UI – The Samsung Armani P520 and the M7500 Emporio
Armani.
A year later after the M7500, Samsung released a smart phone
– the B7620 Giorgio Armani Windows phone. It runs on WinMo 6.1 was the only
known WinMo device at that time to sport the Armani branding. In 2009 Armani
and Samsung jumped into the Android bandwagon and released the i9010 Giorgio
Armani that runs on Android 2.2 Froyo and packs almost identical specs as the
much cheaper Galaxy S in which the phone was based.
Dolce & Gabbana with Motorola and Sony Ericsson.
Another Italian fashion house that has ventured into the
mobile phone industy is Dolce & Gabbana. Started in Milan by designers
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, this Italian company has partnered with
Motorola in 2005 to produce the Motorola RAZR D&G. Only 1,000 units of this
golden RAZR phone was ever created and was sold only in D&G boutiques in
Italy, Spain, UK, France and Germany.
Four years later, D&G helped Sony Ericsson to design the
Sony Ericsson Jalou. The Jalou is a flip phone with a facet cut jewel design.
It came in Onyx black, Deep Amethyst or Aquamarine blue and packs feature phone
capabilities.
Prada and LG.
Founded by Mario Prada in 1913 and is now lead by Mario's granddaughter - Miuccia, Prada has been one of the
most world renowned couture brands in the fashion industry. In 2007, the
Italian label started working with LG in creating a PRADA line of mobile
phones. First out of the production line
was the KE850. It sports a 3.0-inch capacitive touchscreen and a 2MP camera.
A year later, LG announced the KF900 PRADA phone. This phone
features the same 3.0-inch capacitive touch screen as the KE850, but sports a
much improved 5MP camera and a slide out qwerty keyboard.
And just last year, the Korean-Italian duo has once again
released a new phone. And this time, it’s a smartphone. The LG P940 otherwise
known as the LG PRADA 3.0 phone runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and sports a
1Ghz dual core TI OMAP processor, 1GB of RAM, an 8MP camera and a highly
customized UI.
Ferrari with Motorola and Acer.
Ferrari is a sports car manufacturer based in Maranello,
Italy and is well known in producing luxury supercars. However, a lot of people
don’t know that Ferrari also produces its own clothing and accessories line,
which includes men’s shirts, jackets, sweat shirts, trousers and shorts for
men, women and children.
Back in 2007, Ferrari teamed up with Motorola in producing
the MotoRAZR MAXX V6. It’s actually just a Ferrari branded Moto RAZR that
sports the same features like a 2MP camera, 50MB of storage and other functionalities
found on most feature phones at that time.
In 2010, Ferrari has once again tried its luck with the Acer
Ferrari smartphone. The Acer Ferrari phone was based on Acer’s Liquid E Android
smartphone. It runs on Android 2.1 Froyo with 768Mhz processor, 512MB of RAM
and a 5MP camera.
Alcatel and Mandarina Duck.
French mobile phone manufacturer Alcatel also tried to
release a designer phone way back in 2007 with the Alcatel Mandarina Duck
phone. With the help of Italian fashion brand, Mandarina Duck, Alcatel created
a flip basic feature phone that came in cherry red, lilac or green colors.
Christian Dior.
Christian Dior is one of the world’s top fashion houses and
is located in France. In 2009, they released their first set of phones in the
market. Unlike other couture brands mentioned above, Christian Dior chose to
create and brand their own set of mobile phones. Their first phones – Zenaide,
Zelie and Nacre were crafted from exquisite materials such as diamonds and
mother-of-pearl and is priced at $7900, $13400 and $8700 respectively during
that time.
Last year, Dior ventured into smartphone territory with the
Dior Touch. Although not yet officially released in the public, there are
already a lot of speculations about the phone. For starters, it’s rumoured to
have a 3.2” display and a 5MP camera. And of course, being a Christian Dior
phone, it will most definitely be created from the finest materials such as
diamonds, steel, gold, mother-of-pearl and sapphire crystal.
Tag Heuer.
Tag Heuer is a Swiss luxury watchmaker owned by LVMH (the
company that operates Louis Vuitton). Just like Christian Dior, Tag Heuer
decided to produce their own line of phone. The first phone off their
production line was the Tag Heuer Meridiist (yes, I know it’s a mouthful). The
Meridiist is actually a feature phone adorned in metal and leather, although it
does tell you the time at a glance with an OLED display on top.
Now, if you think that Tag Heuer is a little left out in
terms of having a smartphone in their line-up, then you’d be happy to know that
they are now offering an android handset. The Tag Heuer Link phone runs on a
skinned version of Android 2.2 Froyo, a Gorilla Glass protection on top of a
3.5” LCD TFT display, a 5MP camera, Bluetooth, wifi, AGPS and Micro SD
expansion slot. Just like the Meridiist, the Link phone will be formed from the
finest materials such as steel, 18 karat rose gold, titanium, leather and even
alligator skin.
The devices mentioned above are indeed stylish and
fashionable. But being the product of a partnership between a luxury fashion
house and an electronics manufacturer has its consequences. For starters, some
of the products mentioned above are already expensive on their own. So,
branding it with the name of a fashion house raises the prices even higher. And
to make things worse, some of the phones in the list are just feature phones
and yet they have premium prices.
To sum it all up, designer phones are just like couture. If
one has to look at these devices in terms of their usefulness and
functionality, they are no different from regular phones. Buying and owning one
is just a matter of preference and having the money to purchase one. If you’re
the type of user who prefers having a phone that gives the most bang for the
buck, then these phones are not for you. But if you’re the brand conscious
consumer, then the thought of just owning one of these devices will surely make
your spine tingle for joy and excitement.
