Luxury smartphone brand Vertu has announced it’s teaming up with the luxury car manufacturer Bentley, and will be releasing a custom Vertu for Bentley device later this year. This isn’t a passing romance either, the two firms have made an exclusive five-year commitment to each other, which will result in five different smartphones being released during that time.
The press release doesn’t give away anything about the possible specification of the Vertu for Bentley smartphone, but it does give us some clues about the design. The device will be worked on by both Vertu’s and Bentley’s design teams, and will include “iconic Bentley design elements,” suggesting the result won’t simply be a Bentley badge slapped on the back of an existing Vertu phone.
This is good news. Bentley has been making some very attractive cars over the past few years, just take a look at the Continental GT and the GT Speed Convertible for proof, so we’re keen to get a glimpse of what it can do in the mobile world. Provided no-one goes too mad linking the phone with the car – no massive grilles please – the pair-up could produce a purposeful, stylish and distinctly British device together.
In addition to working together on the design, an app with exclusive Bentley content will be pre-installed on the phone, although we’re only told it will have “content for owners and enthusiasts,” rather than any solid information. We’re also told to expect a joint marketing campaign, and we’d be surprised not to hear about a phone being included with a future Bentley car too.
It’s not the first deal of its type we’ve seen. BlackBerry got together with Porsche Design in the past, while we’ve seen shameless cash-ins using the Ferrari and Lamborghini name too. Will Vertu’s partnership with Bentley produce some interesting results? We’ll find out when the first device arrives, which is currently pencilled in for October. Vertu’s most recent release, the Signature Touch, is a real step forward for the firm, and it bodes well for the future.
