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Hung
up on fashion? Mobiles are now off-the-peg, by Julian
Lee - 23rd November 2004
(Credit:
The Sydney Morning Herald)
Ten years ago, if you wanted your
mobile phone to go with the colour of your jacket
all you had to do was change the cover. Nowadays
you buy a new phone.
The
latest chapter in the transformation of the mobile
phone from tool to fashion item will unfold tonight
when a "couture" collection of phones
is unveiled at a $200,000 extravaganza at the
State Theatre.
International
models, champagne and 200 of Sydney's beau monde
will signal the arrival of the new range, which
will include one handset that resembles a lipstick
holder, small enough to fit into a clutch bag
and expected to retail for $1500.
It
is the latest move by mobile phone operators to
stimulate growth in the $4.8 billion Australian
mobile phone market as it creeps ever closer to
saturation.
And
part of that strategy will be to persuade fashion-conscious
Sydneysiders that owning a single handset is no
longer good enough - they have to have a party
phone as well.
The
head of marketing for Nokia, Antony Wilson, said:
"A lot of people get a phone through work
and they don't have a choice over what kind of
phone. We are presenting them with an alternative.
Our research found there was a real demand here
for a phone that allowed them to express their
individuality. This is something that they can
take out in the evening."
In
its sights are the "fashion segment"
who make up about 5 per cent of the adult population
and "want to be noticed", Mr Wilson
said. While many handset manufacturers are encouraging
consumers to trade up to more fashionable and
expensive models, this is the first time an entire
"collection" has been put on the market.
Nokia
hopes it will do for the mobile phone what the
brightly coloured iMac and the iPod did for Apple
computers.
In
the first three months of this year Nokia's global
market share was 28.9 per cent, down from 32 per
cent in the corresponding period last year. And
Nokia's image as a leader in cutting edge design
has also been blunted by firms that have brought
out trendier more stylish models.
An
independent telecommunications analyst, Paul Budde,said:
"The replacement market is a very important
element. If you can't sell more phones then you
can try and get them to change phones, and if
you are creating a fashion element to it then
they'll change them more frequently."
Each
year up to 6 million phones are changed in Australia,
and Nokia plans to market a new collection every
12 months.
Mr
Wilson said the new range would put the "wow"
back into the brand.
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