Nokia opens first Vertu store in Japan

With the global economy the way it is right now you’d think releasing a premium-priced mobile phone store would be the last thing on manufacturer’s minds, but that is exactly what Nokia is doing.

The Finnish mobile phone company has opened its first Vertu retail store (otherwise known as “incredibly expensive phone shop”) for the Japanese market in Tokyo. The phones they will stock are clearly aimed at the top end of the market and will carry prices in the region of $64,000 each.

For that amount of cash you’d expect something special in a handset and Nokia make each phone by hand in the UK. The materials used in the casing of each phone include stainless steel, leather, or 18-carat gold. The keys are ceramic and they usually include a semi-precious stone somewhere in the design.

A Vertu phone purchase also comes with a substantial monthly subscription charge of $549. With that you get a number of tailored services including Vertu Concierge that allows owners to phone up and ask advice on travel, hotels, restaurants or entertainment. Vertu Fortress is also available to backup the information on your phone to secure servers located in an ex-military bunker in the UK.

Alongside the first Vertu shop Nokia is also trying to gain a network presence in Japan. Rather than attempting to do this alone it has instead decided to work as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) using the well established NTT DoCoMo network.

Read more at PC World

Matthew’s Opinion
This is a totally new approach to the Japanese market for Nokia. It was only in November last year it announced an exit from the standard handset market there. Now they are aiming specifically at the wealthy with hand-made phones.

The funny thing is, there are people out there who will buy these phones and pay that ridiculous monthly subscription charge. I’m sure Nokia will be doing deals to get their Vertu phones used in public by well-known Japanese celebrities, but that is just to sell more of these phones. The profit margins on them must be huge even taking into account the materials used in their manufacture.

I’d love to have enough money to be able to consider buying a Vertu phone and not feel the pain in my bank account, but that doesn’t mean I’d ever choose to spend so much on a handset.

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