Vertu opens tasteful, refined retail location in Japan
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted January 21st 2009 4:32PM
posted January 21st 2009 4:32PM
It's no secret that Vertu's delicate, understated design and real commitment to value for your hard-earned dollar have won the brand lots of fans here at Engadget -- and we're still kicking ourselves for being too busy to check out the company's store in Las Vegas during CES. Our Japanese readers are in luck, however -- come February 19, people in Ginza will have a Vertu store to call their own. Sure the thing looks a little less gaudy than we would have imagined -- an eighteen foot tall, solid gold, fire-breathing Dragon would have been nice -- but you can't really argue with a place that sets aside an entire floor for each handset line it carries (including Ferrari, Ascent and Signature). If you get a chance to visit, let us know what you think! More pics after the break.
Now, on to making a tasteful phone
ha, i actually didn't laugh at that...
I think that's hilarious. Especially considering their crazy dragon/snake phone. What a POS- especially considering the brilliant N97 & E71 designs.
if u look hard enough u can see masage parlor sign inside.,says "free happy ending"
Why does that building look like a PC case?
first!!!!!
Ooooo, ouch
don't they have 2 vegas stores?
if not ... i was reeeeeeeeeeeeeealy drunk
"real commitment to VALUE for your hard-earned dollar " ... seriously, "VALUE" ?? That's like saying Ferrari is committed to offering value for your dollar. I don't think value is anywhere on their corporate agenda. Luxury item for a niche market - sure. But when you say 'value' it makes me want to say ' lay off the crack pipe'.
Your post makes me want to say sarcasm sar⋅casm
/ˈsɑrkæzəm/ [sahr-kaz-uhm]
–noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark.
"'lay off the crack pipe."
...exactly :]
i'm normally a very nice person, but wow you're so dumb.
Looks like a contemporary bar.
F the phones I would love to throw a big party with many happy endings in that building.
I'm sure they'll get lots of business.....
Y'know, Nokia made that building, they just covered it in titanium and valued it at ten times the price.
I see what you did there. The internets, you win them
I'll have to stop in for a laugh when I'm there in April since my hotel is walking distance from there...
Am I going to have to point out the dragon abomination again? I think so haha
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/24/vertu-signature-dragon-handset-puts-the-ugh-in-luxury/
My cousin has one of these and I played with it for 2 days and I gotta say.. not impressed? Maybe I dont appreciate the fact that its hand built but to me it kind of seemed less useful than my Motorola v600 from a couple years back...
Pics or it didn't happen...
great phones, but prefer the iPhone.
Same here....
Needs more Nokia and less Vertu.
"...we're still kicking ourselves for being too busy to check out the company's store in Las Vegas during CES..."
I went to it while I was in Vegas during CES and went to the Wynn/Encore. The store....nothing special. The phones...bleh. I actually laughed at the one with the dragon abomination. The sales guy didn't seem pleased by my reaction.
There must be no less skilled job than salesman at a high-end boutique like this. They must know the phones aren't worth anything except as a status symbol, and their customers probably aren't looking to be sold on anything features-wise. You'd just spend all day shooing out the cheap riffraff like myself, dealing with snide questions regarding the true value of the overpriced junk, then waiting for people with more money than taste to walk in and buy.
Basically it's like a bouncer who knows how to run a cash register.
VERTU --- Very Expensive Rare Thing, u know.
J/K
Very nice design building.
Good luck Nokia (Vertu) with selling an overpriced phone for people with no taste in one of the most advanced AND refined luxury markets of the world which is also one of the most advanced markets for mobile phone technology.
Early last year I was already concerned about this move by Nokia
http://blog.cyber-media.co.jp/en.php?s=luxury&submit=Go
but given the current economic situation even in Japan I wonder it this will not be a pure suicide...
They've also got a couple of stoes in Doha, Qatar and Bahrain
Yay world economy :D
You can get a service with Vertu, where you make a call and can ask for anything from a private jet to a 16 yo virgin (where legal).
Engadget has a history of dissing Vertu, either this post is complete sarcasm, or a marketing technique.
In Japan it will sell BECAUSE it's expensive. This is a place where people will go out of their way to shop at a more expensive supermarket to show off the shopping bags they'll throw away. Where schoolgirls will sell their virginity for a hideous handbag with LVLVLVLV spammed over it.