Strong Brands

Companies such as Prada, D&G and Christian Dior have established themselves as top of the line brands. Their strong image allows them the opportunity to penetrate markets outside of their primary focus. Although these three are high fashion brands, they have moved into the mobile market. Christian Dior, a high fashion brand, has recently announced they will be releasing a line of cell phones. Although the average price for a smart phone is $101, Dior will be retailing their new phones for a high $5000 each. Due to the price range, Dior’s cell phones will not be competing with Motorola or Nokia but rather Prada and D&G in the newly created market for brand-name cell phones. Does strong brand awareness allow companies the ability to create new markets?

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/hughes/27919

The iBand has arrived

These art students from Vienna Austria have hacked their iPhones and a Nintendo DS and created music. The work around done on the phones is a violation of Apple policy, but it is drawing a lot of attention to the utility of both products.