14 DAY TRIAL // Nokia 8800 Arte and Nokia N76 come now in new exclusive editions customized by Givori, a luxury accessory manufacturer specialized in mobile art. Named "Serendipity", the new collection offers any of the two mentioned phones dressed in handcrafted cases to ensure there will be no other handset alike. All the cases are designed by a a renowned jewelry designer and are made of about 50 pieces with "vintage 1930's and 1940's intaglio Czech stones" combined with Aventurine gold.
There is only one image available, showing Nokia 8800 Arte in such a handcrafted case, and it looks like it's been taken from a chest where a band of pirates keep their treasure - we can name them pirates of the Nokibbean.
I don't think the phones from the Serendipity collection offer any extra features except the luxury case, but this is enough for those who care about looking rich. The handsets retail for 11,300 AED (United Arab Emirates dirhams), which means a bit over $3,000.
I've seen some naughty comments on the Web regarding the look of this Nokia 8800 Arte (including "the world's ugliest phone"), but we shouldn't be so extreme in judging it since it's not targeted to Europe or North America, but for Middle East. Different cultures, different tastes - different conceptions on the meaning of "beautiful". While I find the phone far from being attractive, I'm pretty sure many Middle East consumers will not. Of course, there's still the problem of spending so much money only to show the world you're rich, but if a Tiffany diamond handset is sold (and bought) for $93,600, these Nokia may seem quite affordable :)
The exclusive Nokia collection is available via select shops of Axiom Telecom, a leading handset retailer and distributor, and also at the Harvey Nichols store from Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia and one of the richest cities in the Middle East.