According to the report, “the complexity of building for Windows Phone” is what scuppered the two OS strategy, though no specifics were cited. The issue may be one of capacity, however, with head of concept and design Hutch Hutchinson highlighting how much effort goes into each Vertu device.

Although price is usually the first thing that Vertu devices are noted for, often closely followed by scorn around the generally mid-tier specifications, Hutchinson says the target audience (the ridiculously wealthy) aren’t so concerned with either factor. Instead, it’s the trouble inherent in using things like sapphire crystal – which must be grown over a two week period – which also caused headaches back when Vertu was a Nokia subsidiary.

There, Hutchinson says, Vertu was “always the black sheep of the family” and faced “a lot of resentment” from the more mainstream Nokia teams. Since Nokia was wary of tipping off other phone manufacturers that it had identified a potential audience of price-no-object shoppers, it insisted that Vertu operate for four years in isolation, only being revealed once the first Symbian-powered model was ready to launch.

With Symbian out of the way, Vertu will be using Android “for the foreseeable future” Hutchinson confirms. Exactly how many Ti handsets the company actually hopes to sell is unclear, but given spotting another person with the same luxury phone is probably something owners would prefer to avoid, exclusivity is arguably key.

Those aren’t cheap materials, but we get the feeling that – as has always been the case – Vertu is more concerned with outward appearance than it is functionality. Your near-$10k gets you an 8-megapixel camera with a twin-LED flash, a 1.3-megapixel front camera, and a 1.7GHz dualcore Snapdragon S4 processor, in addition to 64GB of internal storage.

There’s also the dedicated Vertu button, which shunts you straight into the company’s “concierge service” for helping you find luxury hotels, luxury entertainment, luxury food, and – as you’ve probably guessed by now – luxury in general. Now, the Vertu service has also thrown in Vertu Certainty, to back up the TI in the cloud, and Vertu Life, which appears to be a news stream service with content tailored for the monied.

NFC and ridiculous levels of durability – you can drop a 110g ball bearing on the display, and it won’t smash, for instance – are great, but they don’t really make for a cost-effective device. Vertu will charge you $9,600 for the “entry level” TI in titanium with black leather, or $11,500 for the “titanium pure black” versions. The black alligator model will be $12,800, while the line-up tops out at $19,900 for the “Black PVD Titanium Red Gold Mixed Metals” version.

That means a renewed focus on the Lumia line of handsets, but job cuts are part of the agenda too. It’s not just your average worker than will be affected, but also three executives at the company. Jerri DeVard, chief marketing officer, Mary McDowell, executive vice president of mobile phones, and Niklas Savander, executive vice president of markets, have all stepped down and have had newcomers fill their shoes.

Reuters has reported several times on the potential sale of the Vertu brand, and it turns out yesterday’s news was dead on the money. Nokia will sell the luxury phone arm to private equity firm EQT as reported, although the final sum wasn’t disclosed. The deal will close during the second half of the year, with Nokia retaining a 10% stake in the company.

This marks the second time that a Vertu rumor report has emerged in a short space of time. Reuters also reported at the end of April that Nokia was hoping equity firm Permira would purchase Vertu for the same amount, around €200 million. EQT was said to have been interested in Vertu at the time but wouldn’t pursue a sale, while this latest report indicates otherwise.

Nokia has been struggling in the market thanks to the meteoric rise of iOS and Android, so it makes sense that the company is looking to let go of what it no longer needs and raise some capital in the process. We doubt the luxury phone market is blossoming thanks to the advent of affordable smartphones, and Nokia has said its firmly committed to Windows Phone going forward.

It’s still an uphill struggle for the company, however. It posted a $1.7 billion loss during the first quarter, with analysts fearing Nokia is burning through its cash reserves too quickly to support the business. Standards & Poor downgraded Nokia’s rating to “junk” status back in April, and not long after Samsung overtook the company in global phone sales.

Nokia would potentially raise around €200 million (~$264.6 million) from the sale, and has been shopping Vertu around since December. EQT, a northern European equity group, has also been interested in buying the group, but sources familiar with the matter say they won’t be progressing any further with a purchase.

The Finnish smartphone manufacturer has been struggling to re-adjust in a world full of iOS and Android devices. The company has seemingly gone all in with Microsoft’s Windows Phone, and while the Lumia 800 and 900 have been met with positive reviews, Nokia posted a $1.7 billion loss in Q1. Shortly after that, it was reported that Nokia had lost the top spot for worldwide phone sales to Samsung, and Standards & Poor downgraded its credit rating to “junk” on Friday.

[via Reuters]

Vertu is estimated to be generating in the area of $268 million to $402 million yearly. Nokia has hired Goldman Sachs to oversee the sale of the company with the FT reporting that a source close to the deal says talks are still in the early stages. Interest has reportedly been expressed from private equity firms in Vertu. Nokia is hoping that a luxury goods company might buy the Vertu brand according to the source close to the deal.

Vertu is sold in over 60 countries with the biggest markets for the brand in the Middle East, Russia, and Asia. Since the Vertu brand lacks smartphones, the big draw is the devices that are made from precious metals and often have gemstones embedded. The phones also have a concierge service that the user can press a button for and the service will make reservations of all sorts. Vertu has been rumored to be working on a smartphone.

[via FT]

Nokia has already ceased direct carrier deals in Japan since 2008 and this most recent move is not only a result of Nokia’s new commitment to Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform, but also reflects the plummeting demand for its Vertu feature phones as smartphones gain in popularity. Plus, the cost of Vertu handsets, which can be diamond studded, is around $7000 to $250,000 each.

Any users with Nokia phones running on the country’s NTT DoCoMo network will see their services discontinued once their contracts expire at the end of August. Nokia’s Tokyo office will remain open until the end of the year to handle any customer service issues or refunds.

[via Reuters]

Reports surfaced today that Nokia was going to let 4,000 workers go around the world with most of them in Denmark, the UK, and Finland. The workers will be terminated through the end of 2012. At the same time, Nokia is moving about 3,000 workers to Accenture along with the development duties for Symbian OS. Despite the cuts Nokia is moving ahead with new and questionably tasteful Mobile devices in its high-end luxury brand Vertu.

Vertu is at work on a new mobile phone in the Constellation Quest family and the word is the new handset will be made from carbon fiber. The smartphone will run the Symbian OS Nokia is shedding. The device will come in a stainless steel version or in an 18K gold version. The smartphone will also support the Vertu Lifestyle Services. The price isn’t announced, but it will be very far from cheap for either version.

[via Electricpig]

Since most of us probably won’t ever get to experience Vertu ownership, he’s shared the unboxing too.  Everything is packaged in multiple leatherette boxes, and since the Constellation Ayxta is a quadband WCDMA device there are a fair few different travel adapters in there too (though, strangely, no US plug, despite there being some US 3G support).

Bizarrely, this isn’t even the most expensive version of the phone: you can also get it with black ceramic keys for a “quite substantial” price difference.  The MRSP for the Vertu Constellation Ayxta is apparently AUD$8400 ($7,720), though Drew reckons he managed to haggle that price down with the salesperson at the Vertu store.

If you happen to be rich and looking for a new and exclusive handset to use in place of those iPhones that the Plebs enjoy, Vertu has unveiled its latest exclusive handset called the Constellation Ayxta. The handset is the first flip phone from Vertu and includes the Concierge and Select services.

The handset is the first from Vertu to feature a Vertu Select City Brief service that sends information about a city to your phone. The handset even has its own soundtrack composed by British group Zero 7. The handset will sell at prices ranging from 4,900 to 6,500 Euros.

Seung-kwon has also confirmed that a new PRADA device is in the works.  The current PRADA phone – which added a slide-out QWERTY keyboard to the original handset’s capacitive touchscreen, and introduced a limited-edition matching Bluetooth watch - was launched back in November 2008, making it somewhat old in the tooth by now.

Finally, Seung-kwon revealed that LG are considering their own Nokia Vertu rival range, a series of “extreme premium” devices.  No release details on this, however, nor the new PRADA device.

[via Gizmodo]

That is nice; since this $6300 handset is something you will probably want to las you for a while. I don’t think there is anywhere that this phone won’t work either, it has 3G UMTS, Quad-band GSM, and CDMA, so if there is any type of cellular coverage, you should be able to make a call.

Imagine a phone that comes with a concierge service and has a special button on the phone just for accessing this service. Alright, so back to the details, the screen and the 3MP camera that is built in are both protected by sapphire crystals. There is 4gigabyte of storage inside the phone too.

The phone is assembled by hand using only the finest components including the aforementioned Titanium and Sapphire crystals as well as a patch of fine leather on the back, in your choice of tan, black, or red. There is even a data backup service for your phone where you can back up everything to Vertu’s own underground, highly secure bunker data center.

These guys even got David Arnold, the guy from several of the James Bond soundtracks, to compose 3 ringtones specifically for this phone. This isn’t your father’s cell phone, this is the cell phone you can buy now and probably pass down to your son, still usable, in a few years. Just like all of Vertu’s other handsets, I am literally in awe at how amazing this handset, I drive an ’86 Dodge Aries right now, that barely runs, but if I had a choice between a new $6300 car or this handset, I’d be driving the same car and making phone calls from a nearly indestructible Vertu hanset.

The Vertu Ferrari Edition phone Integrating leather and an embossed Ferrari emblem on the phone with engraved Ferrari transmission gate on the back battery cover. Vertu will only make 60 of this special edition handset.

With the price tag of 18,000 euros (around $25,400) buyer will get not only the phone but free maintenance of the phone including leather replacement, polishing, and etc once every six months for life.

Nokia to sell $25,000 Ferrari phone [via bgr]

Only 1947 will be made, to commemorate the founding year of Ferrari, and the handset itself is a symbol of theirs and Vertu’s continuing partnership in the Ferrari Challenge.  With a stainless steel body partly clad in black and red leather, a “brake pedal” detail on the battery cover and Ferrari logo on the front, it’s a whole lot more tasteful than the last phone from Nokia’s elitist sub-division.

The Ferrari Ascent will be available worldwide from July.

Vertu & Ferrari launched limited edition phone [Sybarites]

IMHO this phone looks awfully hiddeous, but commands a price tag of $310,000. And, with a limited production of 26, only a ‘lucky’ few will be able to get one.

Vertu’s Signature Cobra Cellphone Cost $310,000 USD [Via: Slashgear]

Sybarites have managed to get their hands on one and have posted some first impressions and a whole bunch of photos.  So far they’re finding that the OS (a modified version of the Series 40 interface) really shines and that the handset in general is incredibly well put together (as you’d hope, really).

One part of the Vertu experience that I’ve always been intrigued by is their Concierge service, accessible through a dedicated button – they can arrange everything, apparently, from flowers through to theatre tickets and five-star holidays – and Sybarites are promising a full review of the service soon.

Vertu Constellation Review [Sybarites.org]