New Research Shows There Will be Sufficient Consumer Demand to Support the Sale of 23 Million Fashion Handsets by 2010

global Research and Markets: In developed mobile markets, consumers are becoming more sophisticated in their selection of handset, and this is driving a market for stylish and fashionable mobile phones. In this research report, it shows that there will be sufficient consumer demand to support the sale of 23 million fashion handsets by 2010. There was a time when companies such as Nike, New Balance and Reebok produced 'running shoes'. Now these pieces of footwear sell in fashion boutiques, and vintage lines can trade for huge market premiums. The mobile phone is following a similar path, and fashion boutiques have become the point of sale for handsets from Siemens/ESCADA, Nokia/Versace, Vertu and the now defunct Xelibri. In addition, fashion designers such as Kimora Lee Simmons, Diane Von Furstenberg, Anna Sui and Vivienne Westwood have readily extended their design expertise onto handsets from Motorola and Samsung.

A fashion handset is one where the consumer's purchase decision is based primarily on the aesthetics of the device, and the primary conduit for fashion and style into the handset market today are the handset vendors themselves. In an age of standardised handset platforms, it is increasingly difficult for Tier One vendors to differentiate their products by simply adding enhanced technology features. For the consumer faced with a range of seemingly identical devices from a technical perspective, the aesthetics of a device can generate an emotional response to which they will ascribe a value and for which they will pay a premium.

Fashion and Style in the Mobile Handset Publ 20050629