12 February 2013Last updated at 04:27 GMT Vertu chooses Android over Windows for luxury handset
Luxury smartphone maker Vertu has launched its first Android-operated handset.
The Vertu Ti costs 7,900 euros (?6,994) and is made at the firm's headquarters in Church Crookham, Hampshire.
The device had a titanium frame and sapphire screen but was not 4G-enabled, said its designer Hutch Hutchison.
Until last year the company was owned by Nokia and specialised in highly priced handsets designed for the Symbian operating system.
Vertu had chosen Android over Windows as an operating system because it was more established, chief executive Perry Oosting told the BBC.
"You need to be part of an ecosystem," he said.
"Your device will have to integrate with other devices,Lululemon Outlet Online. I think the Windows phone will have success but it is still a relatively small market share. At the moment it doesn't have the global reach of Android - which is about 60% of the market,lululemon clothes."
Head of design Mr Hutchison said that Vertu was not interested in being a tech pioneer.
"Vertu will never be at the bleeding edge of technology,lululemon clothing," he said.
"It has to be about relevant technology and craftsmanship - it's not a disposable product."
Niche appeal
The firm is also not focused on the mass market, with just 326,000 Vertu smartphone owners worldwide after 10 years in the industry.
"We don't make massive numbers of phones and the price point is reflective of that," said Mr Oosting.
Each device is assembled by hand. The name and signature of the person who assembled the phone is laser inscribed onto the inside lid of the SIM card holder.
Vertu handsets can only be purchased in 500 retail outlets, 70 of which are the company's own boutiques,lululemon outlet, around the world.
Each device has a "concierge" button that connects the caller with a global team who can provide localised advice and help with events and restaurant bookings.
Weighing 180g (6oz), the Vertu Ti is heavier than most current generation smartphones - the Samsung Galaxy S3 weighs 118g and the iPhone 5 is 112g.
One reason for this is that it has been designed for intense durability,BBC News - Apple victory as Samsung loses US trade. One handset - and its screen - remained intact and working after being accidentally run over by a delivery truck.
"People think sapphire is just posh glass," said Mr Hutchison.
"But sapphire is to glass what steel is to blancmange. The only thing that scratches it is a diamond.",Cheap lululemon;
Vertu does not release figures but says sales have increased every year for the past 10 - with the exception of 2008, when the bank Lehman Brothers collapsed.
It also says China is its biggest market.
Other luxury brands such as Tag Heuer and Goldvish are also now competing in the niche yet lucrative space for handsets costing thousands of pounds.
However some experts believe the wider market is moving towards lower-end smartphones.
Huawei has just launched a budget Windows device in Africa and there are rumours of a cheap version of the iPhone 5.
"We forecast that by 2016,Lululemon Factory Outlet, 31% of the global overall handset market will be low-end smartphone," Ian Fogg, principal analyst at IHS, told the BBC last month.
13 February 2013Last updated at 11:01 GMT Apple's Tim Cook: Shareholder lawsuit a 'silly sideshow'
Apple boss Tim Cook has called a lawsuit brought by activist shareholder David Einhorn a "silly sideshow".
But he said the board is discussing Mr Einhorn's proposal to help shareholders get a better return on their investment despite so much of the computing giant's money sitting idle in cash.
Apple already announced in March a plan to return to shareholders $45bn of the $98bn in cash reserves it then held.
Mr Einhorn unveiled last week a lawsuit aimed at returning even more value.
Despite having already repaid $10bn via dividends and share buybacks, Apple's enormous profits have swelled its cash balances even further, to $137bn.
Concentrated effort
Mr Einhorn objects to the fact that a significant percentage of his investment in Apple shares in effect sits idle, invested in cash that pays very little return.
He has accused Apple of "Depression-era mentality", by hoarding so much cash for no obvious purpose.
Apple has said that it is keeping hold of the cash so that it is ready to make a major acquisition as and when the opportunity arises.
Mr Einhorn's plan would involve Apple issuing perpetual preference shares to existing shareholders. These are a special type of share that pay a regular flat dividend in perpetuity, and which receive their payment in preference to the dividends paid out on ordinary shares.
The plan would enable to Apple to retain its cash war-chest, while letting bullish shareholders such as Mr Einhorn concentrate the value of their investment, by selling off the newly-issued preference shares.
Mr Einhorn's lawsuit aims to block plans by Apple to ask shareholders to vote on whether to abolish a contractual right that the company currently enjoys to issue such preference shares without limit.
Apple has bundled the move, together with several other changes to the way in which the company is organised, into a single voting proposition for shareholders - something that Mr Einhorn says is illegal.
"My preference is that everyone on both sides of this issue would take the money they're spending on this and donating it to a worthy cause," said Mr Cook, as he dismissed the lawsuit.
The Apple chief executive nonetheless said his company's board was in "very active discussions" over Mr Einhorn's proposal, although he still threw his weight behind the shareholder vote to abolish unlimited preference share issuance.
Mr Einhorn responded by saying Apple "could simply end the matter by complying with existing law" and letting shareholders have a separate vote on the question of preference shares.
New directions?
The spat comes at a key moment both for the US economy and for Apple.
Many economists have complained that the decision by many highly profitable big companies such as Apple to sit on the cash they earn until the economy is showing clearer signs of recovery is itself one of the main reasons why the US recovery is taking so long to gain traction.
In the case of Apple, the decision as to what to do with its cash is tied up with a broader discussion about whether the company is transforming itself from being a growth stock - a highly innovative firm that reinvests its profits in expansion and new products - into a mature company with a stable business that pays a regular dividend.
Fears that the mobile phone market may have reached saturation point have sent Apple's share price down by a third since peaking at $705 in September.
Data from research firm Gartner showed that global mobile phone sales fell last year for the first time since 2009, although the drop was led by old-fashioned devices,BBC News - 'Apple U-turn' on Siri prosti, with sales of smartphones such as Apple's iPhone continuing to rise.
Critics of Apple say that the company has run out of investment opportunities, while the smartphone and tablet market it dominates has peaked, and is seeing tougher competition from the likes of Korea',BBC News - EU accuses Samsung of patent abuse in A;s Samsung and China's Huawei.
However, other analysts point to new potential directions for the company, including , and - a wrist-held tablet computer made of new malleable materials. |
