A cavalcade of off-kilter ideas being bridled within a tailored suit and the need to represent his company in a formal setting, Vertu’s head of Design Hutch Hutchison visibly throbs with this formula’s resulting enthusiasm.
The Londoner orchestrates the thoughtful functionality and design elements of Vertu’s mobile phones, as well as those of the other offerings from Vertu’s product range, such as its standalone speaker and charger that requires no plugging in.
He switches the portable speaker on simply by resting the signature touch smartphone on it, and charges the phone upon the leather trimmed charge pad likewise. Hutchison then explains that the new signature touch hears noise from the environment as well as echoes from one’s ears, before transmitting an anti-wave form to perfect the sound that has been distorted.
While all these technologies have existed for years, Hutchison then justifies the selling price of the Signature Touch. “As most of our clientele are jetsetters, there are 19 different cellular bands inside. The antennas actively tune themselves to achieve better reception in different countires.” Hutchison, or Hutch as the amiable gent is affectionately known to one and all, has also thoughtfully incorporated
A safety feature for alarm setting into his new smartphones, so that one does not set the wrong alarm time in a different time zone. If Hutch is always brimming with innovative ideas then…
(Hutch Hutchison, Vertu Head Of Design)
Why did Vertu take so long to adopt smartphone technology?
We were limited literally because we were previously owned by Nokia. However, our previous phones had their own unique abilities. We are now rolling out our fifth smartphone, the Signature Touch, which is going to be the best phone ever, because we have a point to make that we are absolutely serious contenders.
How do you intend to achieve this?
First of all, luxury is not rational. However, after customers do make post-purchase rational analyses, and that is when they will realise how good the phone is. The signature touch has great sound and it has a screen that cannot be scratched – as you would know in the watchmaking industry that the only thing harder than sapphire is diamond. Qualities like these convince the user that he or she is holding on to a great phone. Otherwise, we’d be pulling the wool over people’s eyes.
How else is Vertu closely tied to Swiss watchmaking?
When we started 15 years ago, we flew out to Switzerland to study fine watchmaking. We had one craftsman working on one phone at time, pretty much like the Swiss watch brands. That was where we started. Our phones have since moved on, but remain dedicated user devices just like watches. I prefer to talk about cars. Luxury cars are the perfect marriage of luxury and technology. Both Vertu customers and luxury car owners want to have the latest and they want to have the greatest available. Our leathers are lizard, calf, alligator and the works, from the best tanneries in the world – you can name any one. We use grade 5 titanium steel, the same as what the Swiss watch industry uses. you can have your name engraved inside. Our phones ceramic parts also used to be from Rado when we used to work with them. Ceramic doesn’t heat up when you are talking for a long time with the phone on your face and is also hypoallergenic.
Vertu’s is a very niche market. What kind of consumers do you tend to attract?
We have extensively psychologically profiled our users and what binds them together is exclusivity at the heart of it. We have always done the odd special request, such as different colours, adding gold parts and monograms initialled. Our customers are a very unforgiving and demanding group, but they fall in love with our product on a functional level.
Why did Vertu invest so much in consumer research?
Take Sylvester Stallone and Woody Allen for example. They live in the same place, have the same amount of money, but they are vastly different people. We acknowledge that our clients have subtleties this deep.
Is Vertu personalising products for these different demographics?
We are soon launching configurations. We are presently building a vastly complicated ‘build your own Vertu’ customisation platform, which furthers Vertu’s exclusivity and recognises the individual.
Why did you give the new Vertu smartphones this industrial look?
Authenticity is what we were talking about. As an ethos, i’d rather it be obvious how things go together. The bolts that you can see show that we aren’t cheating (by using inferior techniques or materials). When people ask me if i’d like to cover up a bolt, i reply, “do expose it!” People enjoy things when they can see how they are pieced together.
What is the theme of the new Signature Touch?
i’ve been with the company from the beginning and the signature Touch is an ode to the Signature, Vertu’s first mobile phone, except that the signature touch is more sporty and more comfortable. The signature has always been our top model, our crème de la crème, and i can say with pride that it’s the closest thing we’ve designed to a cult object.
Do your new smartphones still have your famous concierge button?
Yes, but we’ve moved it over here (to the flank). It’s a great one-to- one service, but we now also have a “life” function, which offers VIP invites to private parties that one would otherwise be unable to go to. We don’t make many phones, so this is a very selected group. We’ve also added “certainty”, which provides remote assist, as well as a direct hotline to a repair centre. It also allows encrypted text messaging and video calling.
How else is your new line of smartphones reminiscent of the classic Vertu phone?
Every Vertu phone over the years has always had a Swiss analogue clock, so we have now integrated an analogue clock onto the digital screen of our signature touch interface.
Vertu has survived for 15 years despite its detractors. What do you think is the secret to Vertu’s longevity?
We picked a really tough battle. We’re still here 15 years on although the statistical likelihood of survival was one in ten – nine out of ten close down while trying to make it. The original signature was built after the very reliable old Nokia phone. We’ve seen swivelling phones, communicator phones, stick-shaped phones, but only the touch phone exists now. When we are convinced that a certain phone is a good, we build a very nice one.
Filed under: Style & Accessories, The Millenary Post
