Vertu's not known for making
cut rate electronics, so this is probably the closest it'll ever come. The company's just unveiled its latest flip phone, the
Constellation Ayxta. The Ayxta is aimed at citizens of the world who are looking for a "high quality product to assist in maintaining their standard of living wherever they may be," -- i.e., lazy people who'd rather throw money at something than figure out what to do on their own on a Friday night in Vienna. We can sympathize -- sort of. To that end, the handset will be kitted with all manner of awesomeness, including Vertu's own Concierge service which puts you on the line with a customer service representative directly -- no hold required. Users will also get access to Vertu Select -- which, as we said before, will help you out and tell you where all the cool people are in whatever one horse town you happen to be in at the moment. It's got 3G and a micros SD slot for up to 8GB of storage, plus a 3.0 megapixel cam with integrated flash (which is always nice), but other than that it's pretty unimpressive. The Constellation Ayxta is
available in Europe now, and for a very affordable €4,900 to €6,500 -- somewhere in the neighborhood of $7,000 - $10,500.
[Via T3]
posted Sep 25th 2009 10:31AM
Why even put the comment box up for this article. Here's what I think 99% of them will be
"What, $10000? Only rich snobs buy this. FAIL"
eh?
What, $10000? Only rich snobs buy this. FAIL!
...what??
That looks amazing! What is that you say? It's no longer 2004? Oh darn
$10,000!?
this thing better blow me too.....
Well, a single call and you're in touch with Vertu's "concierge" service...
Right! One could get a lot of "concierge service" for $10,000; cripes at $250 each, I'd be set for years of business trips...
Concierge - n. - hotel employee in charge of performing special services for guests
This phone may be worth it just for the service alone...
If you buy this hype product then you have more money than you know what to do with, but
if you've got that much money then I'd assume you'd have a personal assistant to nag 24/7.
its 10,000 just for the phone itself the concierge is extra but they usually give 1 year free.
its not the phone you're really paying for
its the access to the service
I have never called my cell phone manufacturer... I'm not sure that I need immediate service... even if I were a multi-millionare+
@Nate
I doubt your cell phone manufacturer offers a concierge service...
Mancierge, can I help you?
Yeah, I'm looking for a pizza place in Colorado...
yes, wonderful city...
..Do you know a good pizza place in Colorado?
Google 411 is free.
I think you all fail to get the gist of this service. This ain't no verizon. This is a service that will get you access to people, things, and services that some may consider less than kosher.
"...but other than that it's pretty unimpressive." needs to be at the beginning of the sentence... or the article...
Really curious how many people purchase these phones. Really curious.
Enough, else they wouldn't make them.
"in whatever one horse you happen to be in at the moment." I think you're missing a word in there. The current wording has a VERY different connotation.
If you're rich and dumb enough to buy one of these phones, you likely don't care whatever the connotation is.
^ My point proven
Can Vertu find a way to make anyone who uses this impotent? We need to destroy this type of aggressive stupidity.
It'd be like Saturn releasing an Aura that costs $120,000 because there's a no-wait OnStar.
$10,000?!
I want two, one for each hand!
I AM THAT AWESMOE!!!!!!
SMOE!!!!
MOOOEE!!!
What dont they make an phone and blackberry app and a really nice Corinthian leather case.... and sell the service for a monthly fee..
rich people already have PEOPLE to figure those things out for them, for poor people, there's always wifi and internet
I still don't really see the point of Vertu. I see plenty of pics of the rich and famous in the magazines just carrying a blackberry or iphone. Who does this appeal to if not them?
Yea, rich people have iphones and blackberries..WEALTHY people OWN those companies.....oh and umm, Vertu buyers are just confused on their rank in society
The rich-but-not-famous-and-desperate-for-attention.
European soccer players, gangsters, Middle Eastern princes. Anyone with lots of money and bad taste.
Sounds like the perfect product to me. Rich folks are always looking for ridiculous ways to waste money so people get the point that they're rich. Remember that "I am rich" iPhone app? My point, exactly.
what a nice, kitted-out RAZR!
lol.... a flip phone!
I agree with Drakkor your not paying for the phone your paying for the service.
A service that can get you anything you want within 24 hours.
A service that can get you box seats at a theater in london if your in new york and will arange first class seats there.
A service that will contact Bugatti and have them build your car in time for your arrival in france.
The phone itself is utter crap its Concierge thats worth the money.
Ill bet that service doesnt offer any of that better than being rich already does. If you are rich enough to buy this, your damn assistant can do all those things for you.
Tsing Tao your inability to grasp the scope of this is the same reason why Tsing Tao beer isn't a global brand in the league of Heinekin.
Let's look at a typical billionare for example:
I'm a billionaire. I do not want to carry my assistant with me 24/7. They cramp my style. My assistant also isn't connected at a global level, nor will she/he have local insights. Nor are they available 24/7. They can get sick, die, have off days, vacation leave, get run over by a car, get in my way when I'm trying to hook up.
I'm taking a dump in Cannes and I can call the concierge and have them book me into a full celebrity event in Hollywood.
You might consider having a 3rd person tag along everywhere you go as the penultimate in success. If I were a billionaire, I'd have one for business but my personal life is my own; and that's where these concierge are worth it.
And you aren't just paying for the concierge. The phones are produced with very high grade materials. Part of those thousands you pay are for the ruby screen, diamond etched buttons and gold trims. These aren't devices for business. They are status symbols. Status symbols do not need more than basic functionality. You really think a billionaire is going to appreciate a 3MP phone camera being integrated with every doodad in a device he carries around to show his wealth?
It's like asking why your gucci bag, at $5,000 doesn't have extra pockets because your $20 Levi's bag has twice the number of pockets.
Now.. if it only had Tegra!
/sarcasm
One of the whole points in being rich is to let everyone know it. Carrying this in your hand doesn't tell anyone about your status.
Its a non-descript phone that can't be identified more than a handful of people on the planet as costing 10,000 dollars.
So why bother, its okay to drive by in a ferrari, and everyone knows your rich, thats fine, but with this phone you have to explain with words your rich, which is very faux pas.
oh well...
True, but how many people notice the difference between a 500$ and a 10,000$ watch? You see these things in a different perspective when you have more money that you can count... :)
Yeah and when you whip it out and its running the same RAZR software for 2002, they will fail to be impressed at all.
@Tsing Tao - It's custom Nokia software. Vertu is part of Nokia, not Moto.
Do the exec's over at Nokia even use these.
Why not just re-brand some of the E & N series phones
You should try out a Vertu phone.
You pay for a state of the art enginereed and built piece of art.
There where review videos even on TV shows that showed how well they are HANDMADE!
A man made a call with the Vertu, lied it down to conrete, drove above the phone with a car, picked the phone up again and continued his phone call wihtout any damage to the phone.
THIS is where the price comes from, too!
But who gives a flying crap. You could buy 5000 RAZR's and stomp one into the ground daily and you would be 20000% less of a total doucheknuckle than using just 1 of these for 5 minutes.
sage for viral marketing
I'm gonna need one of these ASAP! As twg put it, it can withstand a car's weight and i dont want to have to buy a new phone each time that happens, which is quite frequent!
@Tsing Tao,
Obviously you don't care because you'd rather buy cheap items in bulk and throw it away everyday. That's not the same thing and shows you are either very poor or have no understanding of the difference in perspective wealth brings.
A rich person, even if they plan on dispensing of the item, is going to buy a high quality item. DO you really think that $10,000 or $50,000 is going faze a person with 10 billion in bank?
Even on a personal level, now that I'm making more money, I'm surrounding myself with higher and higher quality items that get replaced every year or less. When I started out with $20k a year I was shopping at the $1.99 shop. I look at the items from there now and I would rather throw the $1.99 in a rubbish bin than pay for that item. Your perspective changes. And it's quite obvious you're still living in a shack somewhere.
Here I was thinking it was a cheap Razr knockoff until I saw the price-tag. Then I realized it's an overpriced Razr knockoff.
10,000 bucks... Concierge service? Im sure there is an app for this right? Parting a fool from a pile of money, there was an app for that a while back... This phone just screams stupid.
Nice RAZR?!?
This is a fantastic phone at a reasonable price. You poor people need to stop complaining. Stop smelling up the public library and go tend to your cardboard homes.
I have seen one of these things in person. (the ayxta) Saw it on my recent trip in NY last week .
I bet nothing you could find this phone at your local goodwill in 5 years for $5.
One thing to add, we are all indirectly buying these phones with our own tax dollars. The niche for which this phone was designed has always been around. Its called Wall Street. Holla!
At times when I see products as this I ask...what would Jesus do? Would he go for BLING BLING? I think so.
God bless.
Is it global 3g? Will it even work in Japan? Concierge service means shit without voice service.
Looks like another Razr to me
E-City Value
The thing that amazes me about all the Vertu phones that I've seen displayed over the years is that I have never desired a single one of them.
On the other hand, I have very often desired to have the money to afford one of their phone.
. . .oh yeah, and . . . What, $10000? Only rich snobs buy this. FAIL!
I want a Constipation Asphyxia more than anything in the world!
Vertu is Nokia´s luxury brand. Its possible to find ads of this brand in streets of cities like Kiev or Moscow. Most part of the people who buy this brand are rich russians, ukranians or chineses. More money than brains, only caring about to be seem....