“Luxury is timeless and technology is contemporary. We have merged the two in the Versace Unique phone,” said Serge Simon, General Manager, ModeLabs Manufacture. This is probably the best definition of this luxury phone by fashion brand Versace. Simon is the one credited with conceptualizing and designing the phone. And obviously, looking at the phone, he should be applauded for a job well done! But well, that won’t satisfy luxury and technology enthusiasts. So read up more about this phone…
Inside outside
Simon says, “For the first time in the luxury mobile category, we have entered with a full-featured multimedia phone. Till now, all luxury mobiles in the market focused on design and finishing, but are not very high on features. So we merged the luxury and technology world and created Versace Unique.” The marriage has definitely given some astounding results. Versace Unique is a touch-screen multimedia phone with 3.5G, Wi-fi, GPS, Google applications, Email, 5 MP camera, Dolby digital sound, DivX compatibility and minimum 8GB memory which can be extended up to 32 GB.
The phone comes in two ranges – the lacquer collection, which has six colour options and the ceramic collection which has three options – black ceramic and gold, white ceramic and gold, and black ceramic and silver. This luxurious phone doesn’t have a trace of plastic anywhere in its making! Even the jack spaces are made of ceramic.
In case your Versace Unique phone, which has a two year international warranty, faces some problem, the Versace call centre will pick up the phone in 24 hours and repair or replace it as per requirement within 12 days!
Getting deep
Once the basics were over, we got deep in the making of the phone with Simon. His love for his creation was apparent as he guided me on each part of the creation process.
“We have designed the Versace phone with a very specific hardware setting. Designing a luxury phone is very complicated because again we need to merge two different worlds – one is radio for the GSM and the other is high-end materials like stainless steel. And we have to be very careful because the antenna doesn’t like metal and we have so many antennas in the Versace phone for the GPS, Wi-fi, Bluetooth, and so on. We designed it very precisely so that the metal does not interfere with the antenna,” explained Simon.
Each Versace phone is hand-assembled in France and takes about 6-7 hours to be put together. Incredibly, the screen of the phone is a crystal sapphire glass. Versace chiseled out the largest size of this glass which has been ever used in a commercial product. Usually, crystal sapphire glasses are used in watches, but in smaller dimensions. Simon, in fact, laughingly pointed out, “The phone is inspired by watch craftsmanship, but in a bigger size. Everything is bigger!”
The Versace stamp
The Versace Unique phone has some characteristics which are instantly identifiable as ‘Versace’. Simon enumerated them. First of all, Versace is a unisex brand and is very well-balanced. Currently, in the luxury mobile sector, phones are either very female like Dior or very male like Tag Heuer or Vertu. But the Versace phone can be used by both the genders.
Another thing is that when the phone was designed, many Versace elements had been incorporated in it. The Versace phone is made with ceramic, which is instantly recognized as a Versace material used in their watches. The quintessential Versace maze pattern outlines the phone and the Medusa has been crafted at the front on the touch-screen and at the back on the alligator skin covering.
Talking business
The Blues Group, which bought the Versace brand and its various diversifications like Versace Home to India, has certainly made the correct decision by anticipating the need of a truly luxury mobile in India.
So if you are a customer of Versace and buy watches over Euro 10,000, then you are surely a much desired customer for the Versace phone as well. But of course, the target consumer is not limited to this segment only. Simon says, “Our customer profile is of course wealthy people, people who buy watches over Euro 10,000, people who already have a luxury mobile phone and want to change, and young people since the new wealth population is more young, specially in this part of the world. So this trendy Versace phone will definitely attract this category.”
ModeLab plans to launch new variants of the phone every 2-3 months for its trendy consumers. So you can hope to see a diamond-encrusted Versace Unique phone around Christmas! We are surely waiting to see that sparkling creation…
The niche luxury mobile market in India already has quite a number of players vying for the consumers’ ears, like the Dior phone, Tag Heuer Meridiist and of course, Vertu. But Versace is definitely not hassled by the competition. “Luxury mobile phone is a new category and we have the chance and the opportunity to enter the new, fast growing luxury category. It’s growing fast because it’s a new lifestyle accessory for people who want to differentiate themselves. And since it’s a new category, more and more brands will come in and the segment will be democratized. With the Versace Unique, we are bringing a new technology. There are a lot of people who want to buy a luxury phone but were waiting for more technology, more choices, more features. So this is the solution for them,” Simon said confidently.
The highly-featured and luxurious Versace Unique doesn’t come at an easy price of course. This gorgeous phone, which is available at Versace stores, has an overwhelming aura around it. So seriously plan to acquire it because you are surely not going to getting anything even remotely matching this phone in the market very soon!
