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Vertu
British manufacturer and retailer of luxury mobile phones From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Vertu (stylised 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] It continues to produce new luxury model phones and watches with its 16 shops.[2]
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Concept
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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?"[3] Vertu is the brainchild of the Italian Frank Nuovo, former chief designer at Nokia.[4] 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.[5] The resulting products called "Vertu" were finally announced in Paris in 2002, and part of a separate subsidiary called Vertu owned by Nokia.[6][7]
Former Vertu phones have been described as "tasteless trash" by Wired magazine,[8] and "technologically modest" by the Financial Times.[9] They are often described as bling.
A special concierge service was also available for owners of Vertu phones. Using this, regardless of the time and location, call the dedicated service and, with the help of a personal assistant, gain access to a wide range of services. These included information, ticket reservations, restaurant reservations, and much more. The cost of the service could be divided into two parts: the customer paid for the call at the rate of his operator, as well as for “concierge”. There were two packages – the basic, which cost about €89 a month, and VIP – for €300.
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Models and Collections
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The flagship Signature line-up was launched in 2003. Its keypad contains nearly 5 carats of ruby bearings, and the entine keypad mechanism was specifically patented in Switzerland.
Reviews of the Vertu Signature were positive, but the brilliant presentation and public response didn’t guarantee success. Only a few prototypes were ready at the time, and Vertu phones were to go on sale in the summer of 2003.
A more affordable Ascent line-up was introduced in 2004 as an introductory product themed after the luxurious sportscars such as the Ferrari F430. All Ascent phones were designed to be lightweight and durable, with the housing made of European calf leather and an amorphous metal alloy called Liquidmetal, which is confimed to be more durable than the aerospace-grade titanium and five times more scratch-resistant than stainless steel.
In 2006 and 2007, the company had launched two limited collections for the Ascent line-up: Racetrack Legends and Summer Season.
The Racetrack Legends collection was named after the world’s famous race tracks and featured six models, those being Monaco, Le Mans, Silverstone, Monza, Indianapolis and Nurburgring. The Summer Season collection featured the Strawberry and Cream Limited Editions, where the Strawberry model had a strawberry-textured scarlet leather, while the Cream model had a beige leather.
In 2006, Vertu also produced and released the new middle-range Constellation line-up, alongside the Aerius Bluetooth Headset designed by Jacob Jensen Design. That time, the Constellation line-up featured the design cues taken from the numerous private jets.
Vertu Aerius Bluetooth Headset, released 2006
A Vertu Signature phone in stainless steel, released 2003
A Vertu Constellation Ayxta on display, released 2009
Old Bond Street boutique, London
Shop in Ginza, Japan in 2009
The Constellation Quest was the first smartphone by Vertu, equipped with a full QWERTY keyboard made from sapphire sculpted keys. Announced in October 2010, it is similarly styled to the Nokia E72 and runs the Symbian S60 operating system. It was priced from £5,000 (stainless steel and leather) to £17,300 (yellow gold).[10] This was followed by Constellation in October 2011, the company's first touchscreen model.[11] In February 2013, the Vertu Ti was the first Vertu handset after Nokia's sale, and uses the Android mobile operating system instead of Symbian. This was followed in June 2014, by Signature Touch.[12] The Signature Touch's price ranged from $10,300/€7,900 for the base model to over $50,000/€44,000 for the Pure Jet Red Gold.[13]
Vertu also made limited edition handsets in collaboration with Ferrari[14] and Bentley.[15]
The 2017 version of the Vertu Constellation was the last Vertu handset released before the company went bankrupt in 2017.[13]
In 2018, Vertu emerged from bankruptcy and introduced the Aster P smartphone in October at an event in Beijing.[16]
On October 24, 2022, Vertu released their first phone from a brand new METAVERTU line-up, which was claimed to be the "world’s first Web3 phone" with dual AI models, Web3.0 blockchain technology as a security cornerstone and a built-in image to NFT converter. [17] Hardware features on METAVERTU included a 6.67-inch AMOLED display, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, up to 18GB of RAM, and a triple camera system with high-quality lens.
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History
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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.[3] 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,[18][19] but retained a 10% share.[20] 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.[21] In 2015, it was announced that EQT had sold its share of Vertu to Godin Holdings, a Hong Kong–based holding company.[22][23] 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.[24][25]
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 with manufacturing in China. Creditors from the 2017 collapse had the final payment made by the court appointed receivers in the summer 2025 this was at a rate of £0.0067 (0.67p in the pound) giving £6.70 for every £1,000 owed.
In May 2020, the factory and office complex in Church Crookham, empty since July 2017, was demolished to make way for a retail park.[26]
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References
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