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Only 10 years ago mobile phones were huge, heavy and very expensive. You couldn't make such present to your child, though today he uses it as a crib. The person who had a mobile phone was very notable. Contracts were also very expensive. So mobile phone was a thing that showed a private welfare. Step by step the situation was changing, the price of service was going down. Operates began to pay partly for the handsets and a subscriber could obtain a phone almost free if he bought it with contract. The industry was developing and soon more than one phone appeared in every family.

It was rather difficult to stand out against the background of other users because the choice of sold models was not very big in each country. To be notable for the phone people began to buy it abroad during the holidays, sometimes it was easy to obtain there something exclusive. When that holder returned home he subscribed his phone and showed it to his friends. For example, only after one year sale in Italy NEC DB7000 appeared in other countries.

Summing up the aforesaid one can make a conclusion that a design of phone and not its technological content is a decisive factor in the phone choice for a certain user group. These types of handsets are called fashion phones. Almost every manufacturer has his own opinion of what really the fashion phone means and every company tries to include this kind of phones in a new product line. First interchangeable covers, that can immediately transform the phone beyond recognition, were made specially for the fashion models. The covers became so popular that very soon different exclusive covers painted by famous artists appeared. Nokia appealed to help socially unprotected groups at the expense of income from the exclusive covers. The company asked few leading world designers to perform an unusual order - to create special covers for Nokia 8210, the company promised that the received income will be used for a charitable purpose. The design of this handset (see the photo below) is created by Anya Hindmarch. A design firm DKNY proposed a cover with citrus plants (lemon and lime). The phone made by Anthony Symonds reminds a blue zebra by its colours. All covers of limited edition were sold by an on-line auction.

Today there are covers which can change not only the colours of the phone but its form as well. Not only fashion handsets have this feature nowadays, little by little interchangeable covers became an attribute of both entry-level phones and phones for youth (Nokia 3310, 3330, 5210).

The engineers made several types of covers for Nokia 3510, Xpress-on™ Active Covers, for instance. The front cover is a semitransparent, during the incoming call the phone vibrated and twinkled at the same time. It's obvious that Xpress-on™ Gaming Covers are covers for games, the main difference is the form of keys that are adapted specially to games. Fluorescent covers in the dark are Xpress-on™ Covers, Reactive Painted. Xpress-on™ Art Covers, Reactive Graphics have the fluorescent graphics on the both covers. As you see designers have a boundless imagination and they can turn a standard thing into an outstanding piece of art.

Nowadays even folder types of phones have interchangeable covers, it is the production of SonyEricsson in Japan, Samsung in USA. In both cases interchangeable covers are used for the external side of the phone.

It's a phenomenon that fashion handsets with interchangeable covers were always cheaper than those without this feature. The typical example is Nokia 8210 and Nokia 8850 - two practically identical phones by the specifications. The only differences of the latter model are metallic body, slider and a blue backlighting. The price of the phone was reducing but not considerably, comparable to other phones that were produced at the same time. Till today this model costs most, though many of the phones of that time are even not sold.

The other example is folder type phones. As a rule these models don't give opportunities of personalization but they have success on the market because of the original design. The pioneer in the production of these phones became Motorola. It was also the first company that supplied the phone with the second (outside) display. Later Korean models from Samsung and LG appeared.

I'd like to turn your attention that the whole class of fashion phones users has already formed today. They buy a new phone once in a while just to follow modern trends, they are not very interested in the last technical achievements. For example, some of the girls first bought a new model Samsung SGH-A400 (the first women mobile phone) and than changed it to another one - LG510W. The quantity of such users isn't large but they exist.

In the whole the market has a shortage of expensive fashion phones that could have a serial production. The striking evidence is the success of Ericsson T68. The manufacturer couldn't satisfy the demand; the phone was sold so quick that prices increased again.

The manufactures tried to attract consumers paying attention to fashion models and finding new original decisions. Samsung produced the model SGH-A400 specially for women, that features the biocycle calendar, and an elegant design. In the year 2002 Motorola made a breakthrough in style, representing a new phone V70 with a new rotating cover.

I mentioned only more or less standard phones above. You can buy them almost in every shop. But there are also unusual models or the handsets with changed features. Now it's easy to change a backlight (green to blue or orange). This operation is rather simple and costs not much (30-40$) but after it you loose the warranty. Moreover, the backlight is not visible in the standby mode and it's difficult for users of such phones to stand out.

Manufacturers know it well and sometimes produced exclusive lots of serial handsets but not everybody knows about it. A minimal order for such models is 1000 pieces. The price of these phones is higher than of the standard ones. Siemens has produced limited edition of phones for a long time, variants of ME45/S45 with different pictures on the body. The most interesting design is from Porshe, unfortunately, it's not on sale.

Among all exclusive models from Nokia the most popular is Nokia 8850 Gold Edition. This phone is similar by its design to usual Nokia 8850 but it has the gold colour and its details are made of aluminum and magnesium alloy. Keys and rims around are chromium-plated. "Inside" features of the phone are the same but the price is higher.

In February 2002 Nokia first launched a handset with a titan case - model Nokia 8910 with a slider. The price of this model could reduce but slightly because of the fashion.

As I mentioned above there are small lots of exclusive mobile phones painted by famous artists that are sold by the auction. Last year there were 7 mobile phones with the signatures of Jonny Depp, Richard Gihr, Hue Grant, Tom Hanks, Uma Turman, Sigurni Uiver (see the photo) and Elizabeth Tailor. Signatures copies were handy-engraved on the steel case of the phone (one for each phone). The work was made by a very famous steel-cutter.

The winners of the auction that was ended at 29 Mai 2001 were the first in America who became the holders of the model V60c. The most expensive phone was with a signature of Uma Turman (650$), the cheapest one was a handset with the signature of Jonny Depp (only 500$). The price of other phones was between 500 and 535$ though the retail price of the base model was 400 $.

In a year Motorola decided to repeat an experiment with the auction once again. The company offered 100 exclusively made phones (V60i -CDMA). The differences from the standard one were 5 new colours, 3 additional bezels and a possibility to engrave one's name on the phone (up to 10 letters). These models also enabled 3 games, that the standard model didn't have. More information about the auction you can learn here. The auction held from 1. August till 7. The maximum price was 410$, when the average standard price was 380$. To all appearance, the auction wasn't very successful. Probably two things caused a failure: the fact that delivery was only on the territory of USA and no choice in operates, only Verizon Wireless was available.

The aforesaid models are rather cheap, they are not suitable for VIP, who need really exclusive models. The demand causes a supply; the phones inlaid with diamonds appeared on the market. The first one was the folder phone from Motorola - Motorola Diamond and it cost 5000$. Naturally the phone was produced not by Motorola itself but by another firm. The appearance of such phone was widely discussed in the press. As a result many jewelers began to offer their service for the creation of such models, they decorated common phone by precious stones. Jewelers said that this service was very popular among Russians and Arabians. Representatives of other nations are not so active.

Sometimes owners of such phones give cause for anecdotes and jokes. Example: one Moscovite, a happy user of Motorola diamond, broke his phone rather quickly. The keypad doesn't work (except the power key and a send key), the display is broken, the battery is run out (it works only several hours). But the user doesn't want to change his phone because of the fashion. When he needs to talk he uses the phone of his bodyguard.

Few jewelers offered to make the phones from precious metal. On the photos below you can see the phones that a made of pure gold (18 carat), about 75 grams of metal were used to make each phone. Don't be confused looking at the second photo - the body of this phone made of white gold.

You can order such models by the Austrian jeweler Peter Aloisson. He offers them on his site. Unfortunately the vast majority of models presented there are not modern but it seems to me that it's not a problem. You can add as many diamonds as you like to your phone. One of the phones from Peter Aloisson had about 1200 stones, for instance. You can return your old phone if you decide to make a second order, in this case precious materials will be used for a new phone, you'll need to pay only for a work.

If you don't plan to spend all your money on the phone but you'd like to make someone a present, you can buy a gold strap or another jewelry trinket. Jewelry bezels for Motorola are available, they cost only 2600$ for each. They are made of gold and white gold and have several diamonds.

Some manufactures don't want other companies to draw a possible income from selling of luxury phones. That's why Nokia set up a subsidiary company - Vertu which produces exclusive mobile phones. The price of some examples will be 20 000$. The customers who are willing to pay such sums will receive the phones decorated with gold and white gold and made with the use of the modern technical innovations. The manufacturer guarantees that the phone will be really exclusive.

The special technology - Evolutionary will allow to follow the technological trends, the phones will consist of more than 400 base blocks. Of course the price of the modernization will be huge (up to 20000$ as well). But here you need to choose - either you use the latest technical achievement and have a personal service or you need a marvelous toy that will be rather ordinary "inside".

The exclusive program will include a 24/7 support service It will have experts in different fields that can give advices connected not only with phones but also with the cultural and tourist life in the region of the customer location. In summer 2002 was the beginning of the official production. If Nokia organizes right marketing policy it can get an additional anchor that can help it to survive on the market in the situation of severe competition.

The use of high-tech materials is another way of creation exclusive phones. The company Liquidmetal offers to use an alloy of titanium, copper, nickel, zirconium and beryllium for this purpose. The advantage of this alloy is that it is more durable and elastic than the best titanic alloys or stainless steel and it doesn't corrode. It is the pioneer work, the metal is amorphous, it doesn't crystallize while the slow cooling. For example a surgical scalpel made from this alloy doesn't need additional grinding. As applied to mobile phones it means that it is possible to create unique phone bodies - light and durable at the same time. Of course the price of such phone will exceed the price of the standard handset made from aluminum alloy in 20 or 30 times.

In conclusion of this article I'd like to say that not so many exclusive phones are in the world. Mostly these phones are really unique things which you can recognize easily at the first sight. That's why these materials can be used only in exclusive phones, not in serial production.

All about luxuries and exclusive mobile phones.