Nokia sells 'laughable' luxury phone unit
A new owner for the division that makes a $US310,000 gold-encrusted phone - with a dragon on the side.
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Nokia has sold its luxury phone division to private equity company EQT for an undisclosed price (yesterday, correctly predicting the deal, The Wall Street Journal's AllThingsD blog said $US249 million was "on the table").
CEO Stephen Elop said the company - which today said it would cut 19% of its workforce as it braced for worse losses - could also sell other "non-core" units.
The luxury phone division makes the Vertu - whose models include a gold-encrusted handset that sells for $US310,000.
So what's wrong with the Vertu, beyond its gauche styling that only a Kardashian love?
Most jetsetters now tote iPhones or mobiles running on Google's Android - or even Nokia's own Microsoft software-powered $899 Lumia.
But the Vertu runs on outdated software - specifically, a variation of Symbian - the same operating system that runs the budget Nokia 3810 so popular with NZ First supporters and other marginalised members of society.
Yesterday, the Journal called the Vertu unit "laughable" and its gold phone "ridiculous."
New owner EQT must be hoping there are a lot of socialites with crass taste, loads of money, and little knowledge of mobile phone software.
If there are, Nokia couldn't find them.
NBR staff
Fri, 15 Jun 2012
Fri, 15 Jun 2012
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Nokia sells 'laughable' luxury phone unit
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