Vertu Phone Software

[Thomasina Norse]

Vertustylised VERTU) is a manufacturer and retailer of luxury handmade mobile phones, established in 1998 and formerly owned by Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia. Previously located in the UK, ownership of the brand is now contested between two entities located in Hong Kong and France.[1]

According to The Economist, the concept was to market phones explicitly as fashion accessories, with the idea "if you can spend $20,000 on a watch, why not on a mobile phone?"[2] Vertu is the brainchild of the Italian Frank Nuovo, former chief designer at Nokia.[3] He proposed and presented the luxury concept to Nokia's board, who eventually accepted it in late 1998. At the time Nokia released their first luxury phone, the 8850.[4] The resulting products called "Vertu" were finally announced in Paris in 2002, and part of a separate subsidiary called Vertu owned by Nokia.[5][6]

Vertu was launched on 21 January 2002 and the first collection available later that year.[9] The flagship model "Signature" was launched in 2003. Its key pad contains nearly 5 carats of ruby bearings. Other models include Ascent (2004), Constellation Classic (2006), Constellation Ayxta (2009), among others. Ascent phones are designed to be lightweight and durable, made of aluminium or titanium with vulcanised rubber and leather. The Classics are simple and small handsets. Ayxtas are flip phones that come in numerous variants and colours. In 2006, Vertu produced and released the Aerius Bluetooth Headset designed by Jacob Jensen Design.

Vertu phones were made in its factories in Church Crookham, Hampshire, England. Handsets were sold through an emphasis on craftsmanship, style and service, rather than mobile phone functions.[2] The business was based in the United Kingdom with offices in New York City, Dubai, Moscow, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Paris and Singapore.

In October 2012, Nokia sold Vertu to private equity group EQT VI for an unspecified amount,[17][18] but retained a 10% share.[19] By the end of 2013, the company had around 350,000 customers, and phones were on sale in 500 retail outlets, including 70 run by the company.[20] In 2015, it was announced that EQT had sold its share of Vertu to Godin Holdings, a Hong Kong-based holding company.[21][22] In November 2015, Massimiliano Pogliani was replaced by Billy Crotty as Vertu's CEO, who in turn was replaced by Gordon Watson three months later.[23][24]

In March 2017 Godin Holdings sold the company to Baferton Ltd. a Cyprus-based Turkish company. In July 2017, the new shareholders applied to a court for bankruptcy protection, the company went into voluntary liquidation after plans to save it failed and Vertu Corporation Ltd was put into liquidation, leaving its residual staff of 200 unpaid and unemployed.[13] Vertu AK France is the parent company of Vertu Corporation, through which the Vertu brand and company continues its business today.

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So after months of anxious worrying, the news we'd been dreading finally came. We were near finalisation on our luxury magazine that would be going out to our millionaire customers and prospects when I got a call from our agency.

This was news that directly affected us and our customers. We had a full feature on the Vertu brand in our magazine that now needed to change and our aim to push the brand into the flourishing Iranian market was now defunct. And yet the news wasn't surprising at all. With constant reassurances from the staff at Vertu, I still felt something was fundamentally wrong months ago, especially with the constant ownership changes in recent years.

Since the news broke, we have tentatively been following the slow flow of information to try and piece together what really happened. The biggest theme across the major news outlets has been how negatively they view Vertu as a brand and an idea, which is the reason behind this article.

Headlines such as "Vertu's demise shows why luxury smartphones are an awful idea" or "Funnily enough, charging s for trashy bling-phones wasn't a great idea" have bothered me personally and show how small some people can think. These articles argue that a phone that costs half a years worth of rent don't appeal to people and that they are amazed how the brand lasted so long.

And yet, these are the exact questions that are baffling. The fact that the brand lasted almost 20 years shows that there is demand. And if the phone costs the same as half a year of your rent then this phone is certainly NOT for you.

The brand was setup for a different set of people. The Ultra High Net Worth Individuals who's spending habits are beyond us mere mortals and spending a few thousands pounds on a phone every few months didn't even register as an expense. These people own multiple properties across the globe (Rent? Pah!) and look to show their status by the items they own. There is only a handful of ways to do this in a first meet. Your phone and your watch if you're a man and your jewellery and attire if you're a woman.

This circles back to why would someone pay thousands to own a phone that doesn't even have a camera (the Signature range) when you can buy a fully decked out iPhone with the latest software for a fraction of the cost. You could even go as far as getting your iPhone gold plated and diamond encrusted by the myriad of companies out there to try and send the same message across, albeit with a very tacky phone. This however misses the point completely. It's like taking a Ford Focus and spending 200k on it to try and make it as good as a Lamborghini, at the end of the day it's still a Ford Focus and everyone has one.

To me, the problems with Vertu haven't been the lack of demand but the miss management of the brand by the series of teams that took charge after Nokia handed it over. Some mistakes to me seem obvious. The Signature Touch trying to be a primary phone by using previous gen tech rather than accepting it's place as a secondary phone that is used to show status. Ultimately however it is going to be difficult for the brand to escape the 128m debt that's piled up.

Having sold over a dozen of Vertu's phones to our clients, including the frankly breathtaking 150k Harmony, we're sad to say goodbye to the brand and wish the best for the staff, who adored the brand as much as us. Our customers are even more brokenhearted since they use their phones day in, day out and will now have to search for an alternative.

Even though most people might not see it, this is a loss for the phone industry as a whole. Customers don't have the choice of a Lamborghini or a Ferrari anymore and instead they will have to settle for a souped up Ford Focus. Vertu could have been a pioneer, testing out tech that would have been too expensive for the average consumer before other manufacturers could do it on scale for the masses, rather like how tech from F1 eventually ends up in our everyday cars.

There might be some light at the end of the tunnel as Hakan Uzan, the new owner, has vowed to reinvigorate the brand at some point but that might be far in the future, if ever. The return of Vertu is one sentiment that all of us at TheLuxe.London share!

Like OnStar for the rich and famous, the Concierge is a 24/7 personal assistant ready to serve your every whim. The service is included with your Vertu phone and available at the press of a dedicated button. My personal concierge and I had a 10 minute chat about where I lived, where I traveled to, what I liked, and if there was anything the Concierge could do to help me out. As much as the reckless, rich 1980s businessman inside of me wanted to ask where the best place to buy a kilo of blow and bury a hooker was, instead, I asked for a list of restaurants and fun events close to where I was headed. I then hung up and got back to my busy day. Now I was living the high life. I had a very pleasant and accommodating personal assistant all of my own. I left the store feeling sufficiently special.

Sadly, none of the expensive cars parked on Bond Street were mine, so I was off to the subway with a $11,000 smartphone in my hand. And then an intense fear struck me. What the hell was I doing? I was holding an $11,000 object in my pocket. The only possessions I own that cost more than the TI have keys, locks, and alarms to ensure they remain mine. But one swift punch in the face from some thief on a bike could easily liberate the TI from my grip. With a paranoid look on my face, I pushed my phone deep into my pocket and held it there, likely drawing more attention to myself as I hid it from the now dangerous crowd of potential subway bandits swarming around me.

I got my nerve back after I got on the train, and decided to download some of my apps and flash the phone about to see if anyone noticed that I was now worth $11,000 more than an ordinary man. It was nearing rush hour and the train car was a sea of Galaxy models, iPhones, the odd BlackBerry, and even an LG Optimus Vu. Not one person gave my new phone a second look! Though few people ventured a gaze away from their precious phone screens at all. My first hour with the Vertu TI was dull. I could have been holding any other phone; no one cared. Despite my lofty fantasies, no bandits could smell the dollars in my pocket and my coolness remained depressingly steady.

The recently leaked images by tipster Steve Hemmerstoffer (@OnLeaks) showcase the new foldable phone in Obsidian and Porcelain colors. The phone appears to have a wider aspect ratio than the original Google Pixel Fold, which this new phone is anticipated to replace. In addition, we expect the Pixel 9 Pro Fold will feature a taller cover screen and a larger inner folding screen than its predecessor.

Now, 50 years later, Casio has commemorated its release with the Casiotron TRN-50, a lovingly designed retro reissue with more modern connected tech inside. It comes at a time when some of us are trying to avoid so many notifications interrupting our day, and it's probably the coolest way to achieve this goal yet.

Why this is such a classic watch

The Casiotron TRN-50-SS (left) and the Casiotron TRN-50. Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

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