Motorola plans designer-branded phones

Mobile phone maker Motorola is poised to unveil a new generation of phones branded with designer names in a series of licensing deals.

The company is understood to be in talks with manufacturers of aspirational fashion brands, over using their logos and colours on Motorola phone launches next year.

Sources say Ericsson and Nokia are also investigating these branded phones, and that future developments could include novelty shaped phones to appeal to segments of the market such as children and students.

As the mobile phone market matures, companies are looking at branded phones as a way of attracting new niche markets, say insiders.

Janet Seward, marketing manager for Motorola mobile phones, says: “The emphasis is increasingly on understanding what people are looking for and how the product fits in with their lifestyle. It is not necessarily change from a technical point of view, it is adding a brand for aspirational satisfaction.”

She refuses to say which manufacturers Motorola is in discussions with. Motorola launched a Coca-Cola branded phone in Scandinavia for customers earlier this year, while Coca-Cola employees were given branded phones to use during the Atlanta Olympics.

Orange and Virgin Radio are to spend 500,000 on a jointly-branded national newspaper ad campaign to promote a Christmas deal aimed at convincing people to give mobile phones as presents. The deal, only available through mail order, runs from today (Wednesday) to December 31. It includes a Motorola mr20 phone, one year’s line rental, 15 minutes a month free calls and free connection – for 199. Recipients will only need to make one call to Orange to get the phone working.

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