This subsidiary of LVMH wants to make inroads into the market of mobile phones above 3000 euros

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In June, Tag Heuer presented in Harrod’s (London) a mobile phone inlaid with 1,232 diamonds for a total of 7.4 carats.  “It costs 30,000 euros” mentions Steve Amstutz, general manager of the mobile phone division of the Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer, owned by the French group LVMH.

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Tag Heuer decided to perform some brand stretching couple of years ago. First, the company moved to the sunglasses & eyeglasses arena. Then, in November 2008, Tag Heuer revealed the Meridiist, a luxury mobile phone made of noble materials such as stainless steel or sapphire glass. Contrary to Prada, Armani or D&G which are only branding LG, Samsung or Motorola telephones, Tag Heuer followed the Nokia way of creating a brand new phone with a specific technology inside. Nokia has been a pioneer by launching Vertu in 2004 and now this upmarket is estimated at 100,000 units per year says Amstutz.

A challenging positioning

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Nokia successfully anchored Vertu as a luxury brand by using precious metals such as gold or titanium. Some Vertu telephones are inlaid with diamonds and some more exclusive pieces were crafted in partnership with the French jeweller Boucheron. And Vertu was the very first to propose a 24-hour concierge accessible by a dedicated key. Nothing similar for the Meridiist: it does not support 3G networks and it was not designed for data transfer. According to Modelabs, the French manufacturer of Meridiist, this telephone is remarkable due to its outstanding autonomy (1 month in hibernate mode) and its second

screen.

In spite of such lacks, it costs 3,400 euros for the basic version and 450 euros for the earphone. But beyond the price, the future will tell if a high-end watchmaker is legitimate enough to expand in very different markets such as mobile phones.

Yvon Le Gall

Luxury-world 

http://www.tagheuer.com