I'm spinning my first phones. The shine and poverty of Vertu: how the manufacturer of super-expensive phones went bankrupt

About the name

The name had to be a word starting with the letter “V”, since the design was already being developed based on the shape of this letter. As a result, the choice was between the names Voce and Vertu. Vertu won [ ] .

The word vertu (French vertu - “virtue, dignity”) In the 18th and 19th centuries, it became associated with small jewelry that people carried in their pockets (cigarette cases, snuff boxes). According to the creators of the phone, the historical parallels were clear to the target audience.

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Story

• - Frank Nuovo begins developing a new brand of phones. The team also included Nokia employees, engineer Hutch Hutchinson, who would later become Vertu's chief engineer, and company president Nigel Litchfield, who served as Nokia's senior vice president of operations in the Asia-Pacific region. .
• - - search for solutions to most technological issues and search for suppliers. By mid-2000, the logo of the future phone was completely finalized, there was an office and production facilities.
• - individual components of the prototype are tested: a sound system is developed, speakers are selected (the task is to make it clear to others who cannot see the phone that it is Vertu playing), the original melody “Sandpiper” is recorded. The first prototype was assembled in March. In October, the company received the right to stamp the casings of its phones - the first time in history that the assay office has issued a hallmark to an electronics manufacturer for an electronic device.
• - in January, a presentation took place in the building of the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, which was attended by 900 guests. At the time of presentation, Vertu did not have fully working prototypes. Sales of Signature phones began in August. The first working telephone with the number 1 on the body was received by Frank Nuovo. In 2002, the company has two stores and about 20 points of presence. In December, a team was formed that began work on a prototype of the Ascent device.
• - presentation of Ascent - the second device from Vertu (high-tech materials, leather inserts, price from 4500 €). In the same year, the line was expanded with new colors - red, blue and yellow (similar to the popular colors of sports cars; later a limited edition Ascent Racetrack Legends with an engraving in the form of Formula 1 tracks on the back cover of the device will be released).
• In the spring of this year, the Financial Times reported, citing a source close to the company, that Nokia was in talks to sell 90% of the company's assets to private equity firm Permira. It later became known that Vertu was sold to the Swedish investment company EQT Partners AB. Nokia did not announce the amount of the deal, but, according to the latest information, it amounted to 200 million euros. The deal took place in the summer of 2012.
• In February 2013, the company introduced its first smartphone on the Android platform - Vertu Ti(English) .
• In October 2013, the company introduced a smartphone Vertu Constellation.
• In July 2014, a quad-core executive smartphone was introduced Signature Touch .
• In October 2014, the company introduced a more affordable smartphone Vertu Aster .
• In November 2014, Vertu announced the start of cooperation with Bentley. A plan has been announced to release 5 phones as part of the joint project Vertu for Bentley.
• In July, they announced the closure of Vertu's production facilities in Britain and the loss of jobs for 200 specialists.
  In total, over the entire period, the manufacturer managed to sell about half a million devices; Russia was one of the key markets for Vertu.

Models

The most expensive model released by the company is the Boucheron Cobra, worth €217,000. The most expensive production model is the Signature Diamond (62,000 €).

About 940 parts were manufactured and tested for phones from the Signature and Ascent collections. The upper part of the front panel of Vertu phones uses a stylized “V”. Its contours are used in the form of the display and keyboard. The British manufacturer presented a limited collection of new phones that can be compared to works of art. Vertu, together with French jewelers from Boucheron, have created eight smartphones, each of which is decorated with rubies and emeralds. In this case, the body of the phone is wrapped around a snake made of precious stones. The cost of such a phone will be no less than 360,000 dollars. But the most interesting thing is that this gadget will be delivered to those daredevils who decide to buy it by helicopter.

Ringtones

The most famous ringtone of this brand is the melody “La resa dei conti” from the 1965 film with Clint Eastwood “For a Few Dollars More”, written by Ennio Morricone.

The ringtone for Signature was composed by Oscar winner Dario Marianelli, composer of many soundtracks (for example, Pride and Prejudice).

Notes

1. Lai, R. Vertu's sudden CEO swap spells trouble after Chinese buyout (English). Mobile. Engadget (AOL Inc.) (9 February 2016). Retrieved April 2, 2016.
2. Vertu is the most expensive mass-produced phone (Russian), Feetch.com(January 15, 2015). Retrieved June 7, 2018.

Vertu creates phones for discerning customers who buy the best.

Every Vertu phone - This is an unsurpassed masterpiece, the result of many years of work. It combines the most exquisite materials and the best traditions of fine handcraft.

Unlike other phones, the production of which is put on stream, the Vertu phone is assembled by hand in England.

As a result, Vertu is able to create phones in very limited quantities, and each of them is unique, exclusive and rare.

The Vertu phone has always represented a completely new class of phone. Born out of innovation and the desire to introduce the world's first luxury phone, Vertu knows no bounds in excellence.

Currently, connoisseurs of beauty in more than 45 countries around the world consider it the embodiment of the impossible in a mobile phone.

Backed by Nokia's technology and human resources, Vertu remains an independent company with a reputation for unrivaled quality even when compared to the finest luxury products.

On the wings of success

Everything at Vertu is driven by one goal: creating the most elegant phones in the world,
designed for the most demanding clients.
Because achieving high ambitions requires unique talent, Vertu's first step was to assemble a dream team of 50 of the world's best engineers, led by Frank Nuovo, then Nokia's chief designer and by far the most influential mobile phone designer in the world.

With the goal of selecting the best materials and ideas for elegant design, the Vertu team worked closely with experts from the automotive, aerospace, jewelry, watch and other high-tech and luxury industries.

As a result, a unique team of talented people was born, united by one idea.

The Vertu team remains the best in the business. The level of competition and professional competence within this team is exceptional. Development and quality assessment are so demanding, and the field of activity of each specialist is so limited, that engineers literally compete for every fraction of a millimeter of the part of the phone for which they are responsible. During their work, craftsmen are guided by the desire for excellence and make every effort to develop and improve their technical skills.

Vertu continues to expand its partnerships, collaborating with such icons of their business as Ferrari and Boucheron, thanks to which it is possible to create new unique models, adopting all the best that these companies have managed to achieve. All Vertu employees and activities are driven by one goal: to be the best.

Unrivaled quality

By creating phones of unrivaled quality; Vertu takes great pride in sourcing exceptional materials for their production. The company is particularly proud of the leather used, which is apparently the finest in the world. For finishing Vertu cases, cow leather is used only from northern Europe. The hotter climate in southern European countries reduces the quality of cowhide. And even after such selection, more than 65 percent of each piece of leather goes to waste.

Vertu is guided by the principle of “only the best”.

Vertu uses only pure metals.
The steel used is usually used for surgical purposes and is hypoallergenic, and the platinum is of the best 950 standard. For the production of phones, only high-quality white gold is used without rhodium plating and without the addition of low-grade silver or nickel.

Palladium metal is added to pure gold, and the result is a gold alloy that is resistant to wear and does not lose its shine during use of the device.

To find the stunning gems for one of their most expensive phones, Vertu scoured the world, eventually settling on pink diamonds, which are so rare they can only be found in one place on earth. Sometimes the search for something perfect is a long and tedious task. But when you find what you are looking for, your eyes will never deceive you.

To produce its exclusive phones, Vertu has always selected the best gold and platinum, as well as the most highly qualified craftsmen to process these materials.

BUT ALL THIS WAS NOT ENOUGH FOR VERTU

From the very beginning of the creation of phones, Vertu wanted to prove the perfect quality of the materials used and the highest level of professional craftsmanship.

Therefore, the company decided to achieve the highest recognition in the form of an assay from the Swiss Assay Office - an organization that guarantees the quality of the finest watches and jewelry in the world. Vertu faced a daunting task. The activities of the Swiss Assay Office, which has special regulations even for the production of edged weapons, are based on centuries-old traditions.

The Assay Office experts had never before had to assess the quality of an electronic device, so their requirements were so strict and high that Vertu engineers had to go back to the drawing board. In the end, the experts were satisfied with the results of the work done and put their own unique stamp on the Vertu phone, thereby creating a new category of jewelry. To date, Vertu is the only telephone manufacturing company in the world to receive such a high honor.

The Vertu phone is officially recognized as a completely new class of mobile phone.

From the very beginning, Vertu was created as a manufacturer of luxury mobile phones, characterized by exquisite design, the highest quality craftsmanship and unparalleled reliability. Not only the highest-class technical specialists, but also the most experienced watchmakers and jewelry makers take part in the development of Vertu phones. Vertu are completely new phones, every detail of which is created according to specially designed drawings and installed in its place manually.

The goal that Vertu phone developers strived for was perfection.

Vertu designers and technologists have amazingly combined precise handcraft and high technology. Inspiration came from the world's finest watches, fine jewelry and magnificent sports cars.

A Vertu is as much “just a phone” as a Rolex is “just a watch.”

Only the best materials are used to create Vertu phones - this is easy to understand, even if you just pick up a Vertu phone: the same grades of leather used for finishing the interiors of the most luxurious cars are used to finish the phone case, and exceptionally durable sapphire glass and key bearings , made from precious stones, make Vertu phones similar to the best examples of watchmaking art. A variety of metals are used to make cases: from precious gold and platinum to titanium and the unique Liquidmetal alloy used in the aerospace field.

It's also worth noting that every mechanical part is designed to last 20 years.

Vertu phones are a new class of jewelry, as the Swiss Assay Office has created a new category in the classification of precious things and puts its mark on each Vertu phone. Next to this stamp is the individual number of each individual telephone.

Quality control in the production of Vertu phones is organized at the highest level: unlike all other manufacturers, Vertu does not conduct random tests for an entire batch of phones produced, but carefully tests each device. If even the slightest defect is detected, the device is sent for reassembly.
New Vertu phone models are tested under extremely harsh conditions:

Testing for resistance to temperature changes consists of five cycles of alternating freezing for 2 hours at a temperature of -40 degrees Celsius and 2 hours of heating at a temperature of 85 degrees Celsius.

Each key on a Vertu phone keyboard is considered sufficiently durable if the key can withstand 1,000,000 keystrokes.

The reliability of the screen is so high that it can withstand impacts five times greater than the screen of a regular phone.

Vertu's history is one of continuous innovation, striving to provide the best to its users. All phones released under this famous British brand have always represented something more than just ordinary means of communication. At first, they were intended only to confirm the status of their owner, but with the transition of the company from under the wing of Nokia to the ownership of a well-known investment fund, they became an unprecedented symbiosis of the most modern components with unique high-quality materials in the design without regard to the final cost. Today Vertu is a whole range of very diverse sensations that the user gives himself after purchasing the device. In this material, we reveal the development path of Vertu from various angles in order to show current and potential customers the true face of the brand.

So what path did modern Vertu take in its formation?

The origins of Vertu - from idea to first phone

The idea of ​​creating a special exclusive brand at the highest level at Nokia matured back in 1997. Then it did not have a clear definition or name, but the first steps began to be taken even without these, by and large, unprincipled moments - they became the conceptual sketches of Frank Nuovo (you can read the article about Frank and other brilliant designers at). Interest in them forced the board of directors in 1998 to approve the creation of the Vertu company (translated as “virtue”, “dignity”), the key principles of which were handmade work, rare exotic and durable materials by nature - the production is unlike any known means of communication unique phones. It was for this purpose that in 1999 a special group of five dozen highly qualified specialists was created, who were located at the headquarters of the newly formed company in the UK. They set to work on the development, which used technologies and developments from the watch, automotive and even space industries. The result was supposed to be something akin to a work of art, and not just another brainchild of the mass market - the first of them was released in 2002.

Chronology of Vertu phones - all company devices

Vertu branded services - to be better

Vertu phones have always been distinguished from the few competitive solutions not even by their technical excellence, but by the abundance of unique ones that are designed to meet the individual needs and desires of each individual client. The link between them all is the personal operator of the most demanding user called Vertu Concierge, which appeared along with Vertu Signature M. This is an independent specialized support service that delivers information on all leisure and lifestyle issues directly to the owner’s phone. The first request to it for booking plane tickets from London to New York was made in 2002, and by 2005 Vertu employees had processed the ten thousandth call. In 2009, the company's most popular service today, Vertu City Brief, was launched. Compiled by experts from a variety of fields of human knowledge, it is a global digest of information on more than two hundred cities and the most popular places around the world. With it, everyone can feel like they belong, being in a completely unfamiliar place. Vertu Select is also a popular service for Vertu owners, offering a selection of exclusive information and entertainment content that is carefully selected based on location and interests. In 2010, the Vertu.me service was released, offering the user a branded email account, as well as synchronization of contacts, calendars and other personal business information with the company’s secure servers. Among others, the Vertu Certainty service is also incredibly popular, which will allow you to stop worrying about both the phone itself and the amount of data stored on it.

Collaboration with Ferrari - a shared passion

The fruit of cooperation between the popular British luxury phone manufacturer Vertu and the Ferrari brand, traditionally known for its luxury cars, which began in 2007, was the Vertu Ascent Ferrari 1947 collection of communication devices (you can view all devices in the Vertu Ascent line at ), Vertu Ascent Ti Collection (check out with all devices of the Vertu Ascent Ti line you can use ), Vertu Ascent X Ferrari GT (you can get acquainted with all devices of the Vertu Ascent X line with ), Vertu Ti Ferrari Limited Edition (you can get acquainted with all devices of the Vertu Ti line with ) and so on. All designated lines are limited - they were released in quantities ranging from a couple of dozen to two thousand copies. They are distinguished from ordinary models by unique “automotive” characteristics - leather identical to that used in Ferrari for finishing, imitation of parts of the company’s supercars, elements of famous racing tracks in the design, stylized aspects of the car in the software, as well as the signature “growl” of the engine in the soundtrack. The Ferrari symbol complements the overall picture of strength and success - a rearing horse, which attracts attention not only to itself, but also to the entire device. Vertu’s contract with Ferrari expired in 2013 after six years of cooperation; the leaders of both companies did not consider it appropriate to renew it. When choosing the next partner, the new owner of Vertu, the well-known investment fund EQT, emphasized the English origin of the brand. It became the Bentley company.

Vertu accessories - extraordinary solutions

In 2009, Vertu began producing not only communications equipment, but also accessories for them, as well as for other areas of human activity - the Vertu V Collection line. Owners of luxury mobile phones now have access to wireless headsets Vertu V Bluetooth Headset, memory card readers Vertu V USB Memory Card Reader, stylish ballpoint pens Vertu V Ballpoint Pen, as well as numerous things that complement the business style. All of them are made in a classic design and the quality of execution does not differ from the company’s communications equipment. The modern line of Vertu accessories includes the following: cases for Vertu Signature S, Vertu Signature Touch, Vertu Aster and Vertu Constellation V phones, V SPEAKER audio system, V WIRED HEADSET vacuum headphones, V HEADPHONES on-ear headphones, V WIRELESS CHARGING PAD wireless charger, blocks power supply for charging phones with plugs for different countries V TRAVEL CHARGER, batteries, cables, classic pen V CLASSIC BALLPOINT PEN and mechanical pencil V CLASSIC PENCIL. All of them will be an excellent addition for owners of phones of this brand, so they can make worthy gifts for any occasion.

Big changes - acquisition of the Vertu brand

In 2012, ten years after the release of the first phone, which was the Vertu Signature M, the Vertu brand was sold by Nokia to the famous Scandinavian investment fund EQT VI. This happened after the Finnish phone manufacturer began to actively lose its position on the world stage under pressure from Samsung and Apple. By the way, he himself was only a little later completely bought out by Microsoft to implement the concept of promoting mobile solutions on its own platform. Today, the new owner of Vertu is the investment fund EQT VI - more than a dozen companies with a total capital of 18 billion euros in various countries of Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Asia and the USA. Its staff, together with its controlled structures, numbers more than half a million people. In addition to significant investments in retail chains, marketing and development of new Vertu products, the EQT VI fund also made a number of transformations within the company, the most important of which were ideological ones. It is thanks to him that modern Vertu phones are not ordinary means of communication in a luxury “packaging”, which could only appeal to fans of luxury, but an unprecedented combination of the most modern components without regard to the final cost. Vertu was led into a new life by a fresh team with CEO Massimiliano Pogliani (you can find out more information about the head of Vertu at) at the head.

Vertu and Bentley - a new partnership

In 2014, renowned luxury phone maker Vertu announced an exclusive five-year partnership with premium car company Bentley. A key factor in choosing a partner was the British pedigree of the brand, which breathes the same history and shares similar values ​​in work and life. The joint work of the companies was determined by a single high-tech paradigm, for which a single department of designers was created to develop the harmonious appearance of the car-phone symbiosis. The fruits of the collaboration have already become classic and. There are at least three more Vertu devices ahead, each of which will be aimed at Bentley owners not only in external details, but also in numerous internal software improvements, which are being worked on by a whole team of highly qualified programmers.

Thus, Vertu has already come a long way, which seems to have allowed it to go beyond the possible. The key moment in its history was the new stage after the transition from under the wing of Nokia to the ownership of EQT VI, which freed the hands of the famous British manufacturer of luxury phones. However, there are still many incredible achievements, interesting new devices, useful services and unusual technical and technological discoveries on his way.

Price segmentation in the mobile phone market has long been firmly entrenched in the minds of consumers. Today, when planning to update our gadget, each of us has a more or less clear idea of ​​what he will get for a given price. Some are ready to fork out for an expensive phone for the sake of image, others for the sake of performance. Be that as it may, the price of modern phones is directly proportional to their technical characteristics.

But, all of the above can easily be applied to all modern mobile brands with the exception of one – Vertu. When it comes to the Luxury segment, pricing smoothly flows from the economic plane to the marketing plane. An excellent confirmation of this is Swiss watches and other accessories. Vertu phones are no exception, the primary function of which is to emphasize the status of their owners.

What are Vertu phones?

The company was founded in 1998 as a subsidiary of Nokia. In 2002, the first Vertu Signature phone was released in a platinum case. The cost of the device was 24,000 Euros and it immediately took, unoccupied, the pedestal of the most expensive premium class phone. Today, the Vertu Signature is the company's most recognizable phone and is available in a wide variety of finishing materials, including red, white and rose gold, alligator skin, diamonds, and other precious materials.

In subsequent years, the company released several more “push-button” models – Vertu Ascent and Vertu Constellation. And in 2013, after the company passed into the hands of the Swedish investment company EQT Partners AB, the first model was released on Android-Vertu Ti OS, the most affordable version of which will cost $10,500, and the most expensive one will have to pay $21,000.

A distinctive feature of Vertu is that all models are assembled by hand, and each phone always has the assembler’s signature in the form of an engraving on the inside of the case.

In the photo you can see the inscription “Handmade in England” - these are probably the last of the phones that are assembled in Europe, not Asia.

It should be noted that Vertu has never ignored technological progress. The latest Vertu Aster model, released in 2014, boasts very decent technical characteristics: a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB of RAM and 64GB of internal memory, as well as a 4.7-inch screen with FullHD resolution and a 13 megapixel camera with a Sony Exmor sensor.

But the software of the new Vertu models is one of the most controversial issues. The company decided not to develop its own visual shell, and left Android 4.4 almost in its original form. This solution, in my opinion, slightly blurs the premium quality of the phone. Of its own software solutions, there are only a few special applications, among which we can only highlight the “Concierge” service, which provides access to a personal assistant at any time of the day.

Interestingly, for more than ten years on the market, Vertu's pricing policy has had a steady downward trend. Thus, the price for the aforementioned Vertu Aster starts at 4,000 Euros, which is six times cheaper than the first-born Vertu Signature.

Surely every person is surprised why Vertu phones are so expensive. Do these models really have some unique features that are significantly different from the options of standard smartphones? And even if there are a number of additional functions, is it really worth such a huge amount of money?

In fact, speaking about why Vertu phones are so expensive, it is worth noting that these devices do not have any secret lines or additional features. Phones of this brand were conceived as a means of communication for very influential people who are used to buying everything only exclusive and for crazy money. By and large, this is not a method of communication, but a demonstration of the status of the owner of such equipment.

Production Features

The production of expensive phones began 20 years ago at one of the Nokia factories, which was opened in England. A world-famous manufacturer has decided to launch a line of luxury phones for “special” users.

Answering the question why all Vertu phones are so expensive, first of all it is worth considering that each device is assembled by hand. After this, the expensive gadget is sent to a modern testing laboratory, where the device goes through “all the circles of hell” to prove its quality. This is understandable, because if a person buys a phone that costs the same as a sports car, then he wants to get a unit that will work efficiently even on the Moon.

If a defect or defect is discovered at one of the production stages, a council of developers gathers to solve the problem or recall the entire batch. Moreover, all this happens using ultra-modern equipment.

Speaking about why Vertu phones are so expensive, you just need to take a closer look at the process of attaching sapphire glass to the gadget’s LCD screen. All manipulations are carried out in an isolated laboratory so that even the tiniest particle of dust cannot get between the layers. If this happens, the expensive gadget may be rejected. At the same time, the air in the room must be renewed every 10 minutes.

Quality checking

If there is still a question why Vertu phones are so expensive, then it is worth considering how thorough the tests are carried out when creating this model. First, a prototype is made, which is dropped, torn, bent, subjected to sharp freezing, etc. A 200-gram piece of metal is even dropped onto the gadget’s screen. If the device withstands all the “bullying”, then only after that it is sent into mass production.

However, even after this, quality control continues. From each batch, specialists select one random device and re-test it for impact resistance.

Jewelry

If you look at the photo of the Vertu phone, why these models are so expensive, it becomes extremely clear.

Firstly, the product design was developed by the best specialists in this field. Initially, the phone is not decorated with jewelry, but most millionaires want their gadget to be different from the rest. Therefore, an individual order is created. At the request of the client, “Vertu” can be decorated with white gold, platinum, titanium alloy and, of course, diamonds. Additionally, a case can be made from top quality leather and much more. Each stone is placed in its place by hand by craftsmen. Some people order monograms or want a copy of the original painting on the cover of the device.

Why are all Vertu phone models so expensive?

If we talk about the functionality of these expensive gadgets, then there is nothing special about them. Moreover, the functionality of the phone can even be called quite meager. Therefore, those who cannot buy even one bolt from Vertu should not be upset.

This high cost is due to expensive materials, decorations and the manufacturing process of the devices. In all other respects, such gadgets are noticeably inferior to smartphones. However, a millionaire is unlikely to try to work from his phone or read documents in Word. For him, status is much more important and that he can make calls from anywhere in the world. Therefore, you won’t find Hi-Tech technologies or first-class resolution cameras in these models. So don’t despair if you didn’t manage to get hold of this expensive “toy”.