"Individuality: advanced features, precision engineering and
couture style in a choice of elegant colors -- as individual as
you are". This is the blurb for the new Motorola Razr, one of
the new breeds of mobile phone flying off the shelves. Where
mobile were once marketed as an high-tech device, a tool packed
with ingenious features, the new trend is for fashion phones.
The major handset manufacturers are now offering seasonal
collections, joint-venturing with well known fashion designers,
and emphasizing aesthetic features when marketing their
products. Indeed, some companies are scaling back the technical,
yet utilitarian features, offering simpler but sleeker phones;
form over function. Somewhere along the evolutionary path of the
cell phone, the device has reached the point where it is no
longer considered a gadget, available only to the privileged few
with the money and/or technical savoir faire, but an ordinary
piece of equipment not unlike a wristwatch. For handset
manufacturers, there is no benefit in trying to "out-tech" the
competition. The technology has reached a stasis, cell phones
are reliable, small, WAP enabled, contain innumerable clocks and
alarms, include high resolution cameras and MP3 players. And
excepting some radical departure from the silicon chip, the
current technology can expect only slight improvements. For
manufacturers the question is how to continue adding value to
their product, for consumers it is a question of choice. A
report produced by ARCchart offers some insight into this new
trend: "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".
The rise of the fashion phone is inextricably linked with
consumer's desire to differentiate themselves from other
consumers. The pursuit of individuality seems to be a priority,
at least that is what companies like Motorola believe. The
staggering growth in the mobile content industry points to
consumer preoccupation with personalizing their mobiles. The
catch-phrase, "Make it you own", is selling ringtones,
wallpapers, phone charms and decorative cases, now it's selling
fashion phones. More and more, it seems, what we own defines us.
Despite capitalizing on the trend at lightening speed, handset
manufacturers aren't the prophets personalization, the trend
towards customized and fashion phones is consumer driven. In
China, where mobile phone saturation is high, it is possible to
see phones worn on the wrist in handmade lace cases, or covered
in stickers of pop stars and smiley faces. In Japan, the
omnipresent Hello Kitty dangles from every schoolgirl's phone.
These small aesthetic additions are intended to reveal something
about the phone's owner. A Samsung cell phone emblazoned with an
image of Diane von Furstenberg serves a similar purpose. As does
the Roberto Cavali phone, or the Anna Sui phone. "Cell phones
have become a ubiquitous accessory-- every woman has a mobile
phone by her side. I wanted to create one that makes a statement
with a signature look", declares Ms. Sui on her website. Making
a statement is expensive, a designer's name on a phone increases
it's value by several hundred dollars. It is no longer a
high-tech tool, it is a designer accessory.
Not surprisingly, engineers like Bill Schweber are wondering who
stole their glory. "Engineers do design, and by this we mean the
hard and slogging work of pulling together ICs and software and
resolving mechanical, thermal, power, display, format, protocol,
and packaging issues. Then a celebrity comes along and takes all
this hard work, puts on a new case or shell--perhaps studded
with crystals or glitter--and takes the bulk of the credit. Once
again, engineers do the work and don't get the appreciation."
Recently, Nokia has undertaken a project with the design firm of
Schulz and Webb, to explore the possibilities of personalized
phones. The Schulz and Webb blog describes the project as
"looking at how personalization of Nokia phones can change their
meaning or impact culturally. Large-scale manufacture is
inevitably distanced from the very precise social context of
use. Once we bring in short-run manufacture, however, the mobile
can be more culturally situated." Nokia have realized, at least,
the inevitable paradox of mobile personalization. At the end of
the day, the mobile phone in your hand is a mass produced clone.
About the author:
Emily Sims is the beautiful and talented ringtones queen at foovely. She also keeps a
popular blog.
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