Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Fashionable Cell Phones
Aired July 01, 2003 - 05:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, are you tired of your cell phone? Companies are hoping you are and they've begun to roll out new phones with an eye towards fashion.
Kristie Lu Stout has the story from Hong Kong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forget CDMA. Forget MMS. The latest cell phones are all about style. German engineering giant Siemens has stepped onto the catwalk with Xelibri, a brand that markets phones for fashionistas.
(on camera): The Xelibri 1 has no blue tubes, no color screen, no polyphonic ring tone. It's not even a triband phone. But for $200, it's marketed as the perfect accessory for the little black dress.
GEORGE APPLING, PRESIDENT, XELIBRI: If you can make a mobile phone a fashion accessory, then the implication is that people can own more than one of them, right? So Italians own seven watches, on average. And everyone has more than one pair of shoes. Men that wear ties have 20 ties. You always have three or four or five belts. Women have multiple handbags.
So, if you can make it a fashion accessory, then you can own seven of them and then coordinate it with what else you're wearing. And that would be a dramatic change in the mobile phone market.
LOU STOUT: The mobile phone industry notched better than expected sales in the first quarter of 2003, with 113 million handsets sold, up 18 percent from the previous year. But with key markets near saturation point and more than 100 manufacturers competing for the spoils, phone makers are feeling the pinch.
TONY CHAN, TELECOM ANALYST: I think that the problem with the cell phone market right now is actually keeping up profit margins, because it's becoming such a modernized product segment, so that, you know, cell phone makers are trying to introduce more value so they can charge more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the light blue sells better than the dark blue.
CHAN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's interesting, because in Europe it's the other way.
LOU STOUT: Bringing design to technology is nothing new. But all too often manufacturers call for the geek speak, emphasizing functionality instead of behaving like a fashion brand. Xelibri hopes to change that with a retail presence in high end stores, two new collections a year and a designer ad campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: There he is! There he is!
LOU STOUT: The company won't reveal how much it's spending to push its products. But if you're targeting the fashion victim, expect to do some high maintenance marketing.
Kristi Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 1, 2003 - 05:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, are you tired of your cell phone? Companies are hoping you are and they've begun to roll out new phones with an eye towards fashion.
Kristie Lu Stout has the story from Hong Kong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forget CDMA. Forget MMS. The latest cell phones are all about style. German engineering giant Siemens has stepped onto the catwalk with Xelibri, a brand that markets phones for fashionistas.
(on camera): The Xelibri 1 has no blue tubes, no color screen, no polyphonic ring tone. It's not even a triband phone. But for $200, it's marketed as the perfect accessory for the little black dress.
GEORGE APPLING, PRESIDENT, XELIBRI: If you can make a mobile phone a fashion accessory, then the implication is that people can own more than one of them, right? So Italians own seven watches, on average. And everyone has more than one pair of shoes. Men that wear ties have 20 ties. You always have three or four or five belts. Women have multiple handbags.
So, if you can make it a fashion accessory, then you can own seven of them and then coordinate it with what else you're wearing. And that would be a dramatic change in the mobile phone market.
LOU STOUT: The mobile phone industry notched better than expected sales in the first quarter of 2003, with 113 million handsets sold, up 18 percent from the previous year. But with key markets near saturation point and more than 100 manufacturers competing for the spoils, phone makers are feeling the pinch.
TONY CHAN, TELECOM ANALYST: I think that the problem with the cell phone market right now is actually keeping up profit margins, because it's becoming such a modernized product segment, so that, you know, cell phone makers are trying to introduce more value so they can charge more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the light blue sells better than the dark blue.
CHAN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's interesting, because in Europe it's the other way.
LOU STOUT: Bringing design to technology is nothing new. But all too often manufacturers call for the geek speak, emphasizing functionality instead of behaving like a fashion brand. Xelibri hopes to change that with a retail presence in high end stores, two new collections a year and a designer ad campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: There he is! There he is!
LOU STOUT: The company won't reveal how much it's spending to push its products. But if you're targeting the fashion victim, expect to do some high maintenance marketing.
Kristi Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
