Probably most of you are familiar with Vertu, a subsidiary of Nokia that produces luxury mobile phones. The “economic” version of their mobile phones start selling at $4,000 a pop. In some cases, however, the price can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, like the limited edition (only 34 mobile phones will be produced) of the Bucheron phones which can cost as much as $300,000. Most handsets present finishes in gold or platinum, featuring a sapphire-crystal screen and ruby bearings.

Vertu just landed in India to present a new line called “Signature Diamonds”, which will sell for $50,000 each. India is one of the fastest growing countries in the world, and it has a strong appetite for luxury products. It represents the largest market for gold products and detains almost 60% of the international diamonds market.

Vertu’s strategy might sound strange at a first sight, but if people are willing to pay thousands of dollars for watches and pens, why not offer a mobile phone to match the rest? In fact Vertu’s approach is not to market their mobile phones as technological devices but rather as jewels. New product launches, as one should expect, are not announced on tech expos but at fashion shows.

The mobile phones are distributed through jewelry shops. Currently there are eight of them in India, three in Delhi, two in Mumbai and three in Chennai.

Vertu has stated that they are facing only with problem with the new product lines, and that is: their manufacturing capacity can not keep pace with the demand… if you consider the price of those things all I can say is “holy smoke”!