Hideous mobile phone “memorialises” Michael Jackson

A truly tacky mobile device has been spotted that is apparently in memory of Michael Jackson. The device is either a complete rip-off of British luxury mobile maker Vertu’s Signature line, or is a modified version of some Signatures that fell off the back of a production line. For pictures that will burn your retinas, read on…

The device:

Seemingly spotted first over on Chinese mobile wholesaler m8cool, the Michael Jackson phone is about as tasteful as you would imagine a non-sanctioned device to be - and bears a striking similarity to the Signature line from Vertu:

m8cool does retail an awful lot of Vertu phones, so it’s quite possible that it had a few thousand lying around spare and decided to do something with them.

So let’s say you really did want one of these… things. What could you expect from the device? Well, assuming that the insides haven’t been gutted and replaced, you’re getting a Signature device from Vertu (which, incidentally, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nokia). The Signature is a decent enough phone, but very basic. It has all the voice, SMS and bluetooth capabilities you’d expect. It even has a web browser… but it’s a basic wee device that is for people who value form over function.

What we think?

Personally I think this is a nasty, tacky attempt to make a few bucks from a dead performer with whatever they had lying around in boxes out the back. There’s no word on how much they’ll be charging for these phones yet, but it won’t be cheap. The phones they’re based on were meant to be “luxury” devices after all, and wherever you see that word you can expect a significant price hike.