The latest must have: a $22,000 smartphone

[faithbw]

For the man and woman who has everything comes a $22,000 phone from Vertu. Honestly, I don't really understand why it costs so much or who would want it but there must be some market for it.

[basschick]

it's handmade with a gold and titanium case...

[Freeshadow]

That's never been the best thing about them:

the Ti is not the world’s most expensive phone. In fact, it’s not even in the Top 10.

there are enough others running amok with costly materials.

The Vertu argument was always the concierge key - only briefly mentioned in the quoted article. I saw a report about it back when they still did Nokias.

No Java, no cam no MMS. But that key.
You push the button and say what you need. They care for it's getting done. 24/7 A service for people who don't spend their time on figuring out how to. Just for the case their personal assistant is away on another task.

[HarryT]

This is a company which specialises in this kind of thing. They've been around for years. There will always be a market for people who want to combine a functional object with jewellery - look at the watch market, for example.

[Apache]

As Harry said this has been around for a long time and $22,000.00 is chicken feed in this catagory.

Check out the latest iPhone from Stuart Hughes–the iPhone 4 Diamond Rose Edition. Hughes has recreated the infamous antenna band that wraps around the sides of the latest iPhone, as well as the backplate, using rose gold. The band is adorned with 100 carats of flawless diamonds, and the Apple logo is formed with fifty-three more diamonds. Once again, the home button gets the most love–it’s made of platinum and features a rare 7.4-carat pink diamond.

The phone comes in an imperial pink 7-kilogram chest cut from a single block of granite and lined with nubuck top-grain leather. It also comes with an 8-carat flawless diamond that can be used in place of the pink one.

Apache

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by HarryT

This is a company which specialises in this kind of thing. They've been around for years. There will always be a market for people who want to combine a functional object with jewellery - look at the watch market, for example.

Agreed, there will always be people with more money than sense.

[HarryT]

Sense? It's their money - let them spend it how they wish. I don't wear a $5 Casio watch, although it would probably keep better time than my analogue Swiss watch. There are other reasons for buying something than pure economy. It's nice to own nice things.

[slex]

Other than demonstrating social status, I don't see what that is.

[HarryT]

You don't own anything that's not purely functional and utilitarian?

[Freeshadow]

Originally Posted by slex

Other than demonstrating social status, I don't see what that is.

While it might be true for jewellery encrusted standard-items it certainly isn't for the Vertu phones. The service addon is remarkable.

[xg4bx]

$22k? I wouldn't even pay that much for a fully functional, realistic love-bot (whenever they're invented).

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Sense? It's their money - let them spend it how they wish.

I'm not stopping them from spending their money as they see fit. I don't see the sense in buying such an expensive phone, but then again, some people might feel the same way about the things that I buy.

[Ekaros]

That one is likely a low end model. The features doesn't matter really...

[ManosHandsOfFate]

Take the Hope Diamond, glue it to your phone, and you've got a $200 million phone!

[Apache]

The Hope Diamond is ugly. The only things going for it are it's size and history. ie: it's notoriety. It is supposed to bring bad luck to whoever owns it. It is actually more grey than blue. They use high intensity lights when photographing it to make it look richer.
Apache