Asia Inc

Vertu adds a new Signature collection to its luxury phone portfolio, and announces Michelle Yeoh as the company’s brand ambassador

THE FERRARI team did not have a good outing at the recent Formula One Grand Prix held in Singapore. 

But, Alberto Torres, a friend and supporter of the Ferrari team, probably isn’t too upset by its performance as the president of luxury mobile phone maker, Vertu, has something much bigger to celebrate.

Besides watching the race, Torres was also in town to launch Vertu’s new Signature collection, to mark the company’s 10 years of pioneering and leading the luxury mobile phone market. 

“This is an important time for us, to celebrate. We’ve decided to do something quite bold, to reintroduce the Signature line, which is the icon of Vertu. When we thought about Asia, the best place to do it would be Singapore,” says Torres in an interview with The Edge Singapore, adding that besides the “moment of huge international attention” on Singapore, the tiny island was also the site of Vertu’s first boutique in Asia and the second worldwide, after the world’s fashion and luxury capital, Paris. 

And so, the glitz and glamour of the F1 weekend was shared with the new Signature range, which Torres calls “really the utmost in craftsmanship” and “without equal”. 

The company, founded in 1998, only introduced its first product — the original Signature (now called Signature Classic) — four years later, with the aim of creating “the most accomplished, highest standard of craftsmanship”, says Torres. “What we are trying to do with the new Signature, is to go back to the principles of the Signature, perhaps with the benefit of the learning of the last 10 years, plus obviously a bit more modern technology and a slightly more modern design,” he adds. 

The new Signature uses only the “very finest” materials. For example, the “sea of sapphire crystal” that makes up the face of the phone takes more than a fortnight to create in a 2,000ºC furnace, resulting in a surface so tough that only diamonds can scratch it. The keypad — patented, naturally — contains 4.75 carats of solid ruby bearings, which ensures years of durability for these heavilyused moving parts. Three different versions are available: stainless steel, yellow gold and white gold. 

And of course — pardon the pun — Vertu’s signature features are in this new phone too. Chief among these is the “Concierge service”. It is used by Vertu owners to make requests ranging from finding an elephant for a wedding, to helping organise a party for 400. 

There is also the “Fortress” service, which helps Vertu owners back up data and contacts securely in a remote location in the forests of England. This location is also where every Vertu unit is individually created and assembled by a team of highly skilled craftsmen, who are so proud of their work that they are happy to sign their names on their masterpieces. “Passion and pride always go together,” remarks Torres. 

While Vertu’s latest offering is set to wow, that does not guarantee that the company’s business will emerge entirely unscathed from the world’s economic problems. 

“I don’t think the luxury market is completely immune — that would be a bit naïve,” says Torres, the holder of a computer science doctorate from Stanford University and a former McKinsey consultant. 

But, he is also quick to add that Vertu, as a brand and as a product category, is still a relatively new concept. “We are still growing, and the long-term outlook, I think, is quite positive. If you believe in continuous economic growth — which I think everyone agrees on even if there is a slowdown for a year or more — we will go back to significant growth,” says Torres. 

These days, however, the luxury mobile phone market pioneered by Vertu is certainly not its territory alone. Competition is growing. 

Samsung has a tie-up with Armani, LG with Prada, and Motorola with Dolce&Gabbana, to launch co-branded phones that feature heavier doses of style and fashion than those of the mainstream offerings from these big names. Torres politely describes these as “quite nice phones, and they do, in a way, relate to what we are doing”. 

He is also mindful of another form of competition in the luxury market that is more “legitimate”. Christian Dior has its Diorphone, a leather clamshell phone whose diamond-studded versions goes for up to €18,000 ($35,800), while Tag Heuer, better known for its sports watches, has also joined the fray with the Meridiist, a sleek, metallic marvel, with a price point likely to be north of US$10,000 ($14,600).

“That of competition is very helpful for us,” says Torres. “We have been the pioneer in this luxury-mobile-phone industry. All the brands coming into this market clearly validates that there is a significant market in luxury mobile phones and they are going to help us grow the market tremendously,” he adds. 

Even as Torres takes the occasional glance at his rear-view mirror, he is equally mindful of the potentially rewarding journey ahead. According to Torres, within the market for watches, 40% of the value comes from what can be defined as luxury pieces.

In contrast, luxury mobile phones are now less than 1% of the mobile industry, which in turn, is already five times the size of the watch industry. “It’s massive,” says Torres of the market’s potential. 

“Of course, Vertu is not going to be the only one, there will be other brands. We just have to be ahead of everybody else and continue to leverage our position as the pioneers, to be the undisputed leader,” he says. 

The journey, already 10 years in the making, has barely begun.