Will the mobile phone be the new businessmen luxury accessory, after watches This is the bet of Tag Heuer, the watch brand LVMH Lighthouse (owner of the "voices"). The Swiss company accelerates at this time the rise of the Meridiist, his first top mobile range. Starting price: smics euros. It climbs to 30,000 euros for the model "bling bling" diamond.
After five years of reflection, Tag Heuer has chosen to diversify into luxury phones, a niche opened in 2002 by virtue, subsidiary of Nokia. "Our goal is to become the challenger of virtue," said Steve Amstutz, head of Tag Heuer Communication Instruments.
The subsidiary of Nokia products are offered from 3.900 euro and up to more than 80,000 euros. And it works. The activity is profitable, concedes the company, very quiet on its sales. Tag Heuer aims to hold 10 of this segment in 2009. "The mobile sector is saturated, the penetration rate reached more than 100, there will therefore be new segmentations. "Luxury is one", takes Steve Amstutz. Dior, another subsidiary of LVMH, also started in 2008 in this area with its Dior Phone.
Leather or alligator
While the luxury market is declining sales of LVMH watches fell by 41 in the first quarter , the breakthrough of this new generation of products risk obviously take longer than expected. On the French market of laptops, the renewal is however pulled by the highest product range, in terms of technology and design. If portable classic sales are down 5 on the first quarter, according to GfK, those of smartphones have more than doubled. "The mobile is a very personal product, which allows to feel unique." Those who have the means are looking for a phone that will differentiate between the mass. "There is an audience for the high-end", is a specialist in the market.
Other brands such as Prada LG or Dolce Gabbana & with Motorola, also offer mobile phones. But these houses are slapping to dress according to their codes, existing models. The Meridiist, he thought of A to Z by the watchmaker, which drew inspiration for his design of his watch Monaco. Target clientele: the businessmen attention to their appearance, and "for an object of exceptionqu' they can put on a table or provide." Asian, Russian and the Middle East including customers. Tag Heuer has developed it with Modelabs, specialist mobile custom. The production is provided by Sony in Strasbourg. "These are phones whose life cycle extends over several years, while the rate of renewal of a laptop is on average fourteen to eighteen months," notes Grégory Bonniot, Vice-President, licensing and marketing of Modelabs.
Its manufacture thereby appeal to a corrosion-resistant steel or Sapphire Crystal screen. Not to mention the leather or the alligator. But, technically, nothing revolutionary. "There is not competing in the technology." "For our target, the most important, it is time management and not a phone to do everything, which would have the vocation to be a substitute for a BlackBerry," says Grégory Bonniot. The true originality lies in its distribution. The portable chic of Tag Heuer, as virtue, are sold only in Jewellers Jewellers. The watchmaker is 500 points of sale (10 of its distribution) in the world.
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