Abstract
Vertu was the first luxury mobile phone vendor, created by a team of British engineers working at Nokia during the Finnish company’s heyday of the early 2000s. Vertu created a new market space by giving birth to a new product category that borrowed elements from the mobile phone industry and the luxury jewelry industry. By introducing a new concept of mobile phone characterized by craftsmanship, precious materials, and exclusive services, Vertu challenged the functional orientation of the mobile phone industry, making the handset an emotional device. However, a population of start-ups as well as established brands soon entered the industry attempting to replicate Vertu’s success. This chapter examines how Vertu was able to create new demand and the main challenges it faced with the iPhone revolution.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
ABI Research. 2008. Luxury brands aim for multi-billion dollar revenues from the mobile handset market. ABI Research Press release, August 5, 2008.
Campbell, M., A. Ewing, and A-S. Chassany. 2012. Nokia said to near sale of Vertu Luxury-Phone unit to EQT. Businessweek, June 13, 2012.
Charlton, A. 2015. Luxury British phone maker Vertu sold to Chinese investors as CEO steps down. International Business Times, November 3, 2015.
D’Arpizio, C., F. Levato, D. Zito, and J. de Montgolfier. 2015. Luxury goods worldwide market study fall-winter 2015: A time to act—How luxury brands can rebuild to win. Boston: Bain & Company.
Giachetti, C., and G. Marchi. 2010. Evolution of firms’ product strategy over the life cycle of technology-based industries: A case study of the global mobile phone industry, 1980–2009. Business History 52 (7): 1523–1550.
Giachetti, C., and G. Marchi. 2017. Successive changes in leadership in the worldwide mobile phone industry: The role of windows of opportunity and firms’ competitive action. Research Policy 46: 352–364.
Giachetti, C., J. Lampel, and S. Li Pira. 2016. Red Queen competitive imitation in the UK mobile phone industry. Academy of Management Journal, published online, 1–59.
Hesseldahl, A. 2003. Aston Martin Motors with Motorola. Forbes, September 12, 2003.
Karrar, T. 2007. Vertu rings till for British-made luxury goods. Reuters, July 16, 2007.
Kim, W.C., and R. Mauborgne. 2005. Blue ocean strategy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Levine, M. 2002. The $19,450 Phone. The New York Times, December 1, 2002.
Nickinson, P. 2011. LG and PRADA, together since 2006, renew their vows. Android Central, November 23, 2011.
Osterwalder, A., and Y. Pigneur. 2010. Business model generation. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Williams, C. 2017. Turkish exile snaps up smartphone maker Vertu for £50 m. The Telegraph, March 12, 2017.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Giachetti, C. (2018). Vertu: An Internal Nokia Start-up Creating the Luxury Mobile Phone Industry. In: Smartphone Start-ups. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67973-0_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67973-0_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-67972-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-67973-0
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)