Everybody is talking about | Fashion phones

Something is in the air. Earlier this week, we received a mysterious package in the post from Nokia. Inside, we found a 7900 Crystal Prism phone, complete with a Sapphire crystal and engraved design by French graphic designer Frederique Daubal, who has previously collaborated with Paul Smith and Colette, the iconic Paris fashion concept boutique.

Not only this, the fashion and technology blogosphere has been abuzz about Tag Heuer's branded mobile phone, priced to compete with the Vertu phones, at 3900 euros (or about $6000). Previously, other fashion brands including Prada, Armani, and Levis have launched mobile phones with much hype and fanfare.

To top it all off, I was recently invited to give a Keynote Speech at the ArcChart Handset Fashion and Style Congress in London later this month on, what else, The Business of Fashion.

So, is all this fashion phone buzz just PR hype, or is it something that fashion brands and mobile phone players should be seriously thinking about?

The proof is in the pudding. In the last year, we have seen Apple, arguably the most powerful consumer brand of the day, create a virtual frenzy around the world with its launch of its iPhone, much to the delight of Apple enthusiasts who have bought into the streamlined design, aesthetic simplicity, and street cred of the Apple brand. So, who's to say fashion brands can't seize this new fashion moment as well?

When purchasing decisions about a product move from being a largely functional decision to one that is more emotional, at least in part, then design, branding and aesthetic can play a role -- and that's where fashion comes in.

For years now, people have been personalising their generic phones with screensavers, ringtones and decorations, to make the phones their own. As ArcChart says in its in-depth report on fashion phones, Fashion and Style in the Mobile Handset Industry, the mobile phone is now

the most ubiquitous item of personal consumer electronics worldwide. This has made it an obvious tableau for the expression of an individual's fashion tastes and style...it travels every with its owner and is visible to others.

The opportunity here seems real. What remains to be seen is which models for entering this market end up working the best. Prada and Armani have chosen to go the licensing route, working with external design and technology partners to bring their phones to market at more affordable prices. But this means that their phones  risk feeling like the brand has just been stamped on the phone, with little effort to focus on design with the same degree of precision that Miuccia Prada and Giorgio Armani have when they are designing clothes. In fact, don't these two phones kind of look the same?

On the other hand, a more bespoke proprietary model like Tag Heuer's could be appealing in order to build a more defensible and differentiated position in the market. However, this will require sourcing the technology and expertise from somewhere and at sky-high prices, technophiles will be even more likely to judge the phone on its technical merit, as well as its aesthetic, as Tag Heuer has been learning.

One thing is for sure...this is only the beginning of the fashion phone. We'll be back with a report from the conference later this month.

Comments

[Vikram Alexei Kansara]

The "fashion phone" is an interesting space, but I'm not sure people see fashion brands as having the expertise to be credible creators of consumer electronics. Partnerships with established technology companies make the most sense to me, with fashion brands offering changeable trims or skins - and even "of the moment" curated content like playlists, ringtones, imagery, etc. Apple should open up the physical platform of the iPhone so it is customizable and partner with fashion brands to create content widgets/apps.

[lady coveted]

i have a hard time with 'fashion' attached to consumer electronics. consumer electronics go in and out of style at a similar rate as fashion, but they don't get recycled, they end up in landfills, not vintage shops.