The ARC Group forecasts that 23 Million “fashion handsets” will be sold 2010. While the number does not cause headlines, what does is the fact that so many fashion brands are getting into the act. I previously commented about Versace and Escada from Nokia and Siemens, respectively. I feel that this statistic is off by an order of magnitude. Should other brands get into the act, such as Nike, Adidas, Levis (a denim textured mobile would be highly popular), even Coca Cola could really start a brand war and the Operators and mobile device manufacturers race to lock up as many brands and marketing opportunities as the mobile games sector has done. The wireless sector is gaining more and more attention, what’s to stop any establish brand on getting into fray? The fashionistas have continued their trend worldwide including Kimora Lee Simmons and Vivienne Westwood courting Motorola while Diane Von Furstenberg and Anna Sui flirting with Samsung.
And these devices are not cheap! Most over $500 USD, they definitely fit the profile for those who are extremely fashion-conscious. When will the knock off faceplates come where I can get the same for about one-tenth of the cost? While I do applaud the efforts of these devices, I would have hope for some better results. While I understand the need to snap up these fashion brands by the Operators to boost APRU and create an image, but where was the marketing or engineer in those meetings? Why would I want an IDEN phone, even if it was a Baby Phat? While all devices mentioned are a limited edition, why not pick a larger carrier or network to promote a unique device? Whenever I think of IDEN, it still reminds me of construction workers, field service technicians, or event planners. Diane Von Furstenberg’s Samsung device is on Sprint’s CDMA network. And Anna Sui’s Samsung device is only available on T-Mobile. These are smarter choices. Finally, Vivienne Westwood’s Motorola device is GSM and available in the UK.
Maybe it won’t be long before Donald Trump will have a special edition Blackberry? How about Bill Gates (would have to be a PocketPC device) or even Al Gore, Father of the Internet? Perhaps artists with Piet Mondrian, Jackson Pollack, or even Andy Warhol? There’s practically no limit — this reminds me of affinity credit cards.
Finally, Ferrari teamed up with it’s sponsor, Vodafone, and released with a Sharp Ferrari mobile phone.
