Following my plea for those caught up in recession (see the post below this one), I'm rather sickened to read about the conspicuous consumption of cellphones.
To me, a cellphone is a utility item. I carry one when traveling, for the sake of keeping in touch with my friends, and for use in emergency. The cheapest one available is fine. I don't need bells and whistles. That's even more the case when I reflect that the technology changes so fast that whatever I buy today will be obsolete in two to three years time, and will have to be replaced.
However, that clearly hasn't stopped some folks with more money than sense from investing in 'jewelry-grade' cellphones. I can't believe that they spend this much money on something that'll have to be replaced so soon . . . but then, maybe I'm not used to moving at such rarefied levels of affluence.
Here's the Tag Heuer Meridiist, priced at a mere $3,900:
At a similar price level, there's the entry-level Vertu phone:
This one can get much, much more expensive, though, as we'll see later on.
Moving up-market, there's the Dior, a snip at $22,000 or so:
Starting at $23,500 and running all the way up to about $150,000, we have the Swiss-made Goldvish:
And then we come to the ne plus ultra of them all, the Nokia-based Vertu, heavily embellished by Boucheron in Paris. There are several models available. Prices range all the way up to a staggering $1.5 million or so for this one:
I was tempted to post this article as another in the 'Doofus Of The Day' series, but that seemed unjust to me. Even our most stupid Doofi are unlikely to blow their money on bling-bling like this! It boggles my mind that people are apparently willing to pay such outlandish sums for something that'll be obsolete in a year or two, and serves no purpose whatsoever other than to be a glittering target for every thief within range who sees you use it.
Sheesh . . .
Peter
I do not understand it either.
ReplyDeleteMakes my $19.00 TracFone seem even cheaper. But I do not need or want a fancy phone.
Well.. why are you surprised?
ReplyDeleteIt only makes sense that the hyper-rich and the merely very rich* need to be able to spend their money on something tangible.
Only the most curious of individuals would keep on living in a middle class style after earning his first billion..
What are they supposed to do with all their money?
Buy the crappy mass produced phones for proles like you ?
They're better than you or me, since the system's tilted their way* (if they weren't, why would it be so?).. (and the United States, like all democratic countries, as time goes on, increasingly measures all things in money..)
The first one's actually elegant, though, second one's passable..
*
see here:
http://siepr.stanford.edu/papers/briefs/policybrief_feb06.pdf
Ridiculous. I don't even have a camera on my phone (though I wouldn't say no to a Blackberry or iPhone, if I had the cash!)
ReplyDeleteConsidering my last cellphone went straight into the toilet after escaping a shallow pocket, I'm certainly not forking over for one of those expensive gadgets. If someone wants some bling, they can always get those stick-on fake gemstones from a a craft store... or from one of my nieces.
ReplyDeleteThese are not cell phones. That is not thier purpose at all. This is where the mark gets missed.
ReplyDeleteThese are status symbols.
Who needs a Rolex watch to tell time?
Who needs a Lamborghini Diablo or a Bentley to drive around?
There is a story I read where an arab shiek had an Audi made out of PURE SILVER...mind that, not PAINTED silver...or trimmed with silver..but the entire car made out of Silver and Gold save the obvious engine and other parts that need to be of stronger stuff.
But when you are making 100 MILLION USDs a month....what's 5 million for a phone?
It's just like you are making $2000 per month and just spent $100 on a phone.
I agree that I would never spend this kind of money on a phone...
But odds are I'll never HAVE that kind of money TO spend on a phone either...sigh.
Ah well...