It isn’t enough these days for your mobile phone or MP3 player to use the latest technology, they should also be designed by your favorite actor or pop singer. Or at least one of the ones who have signed on to design products marketed to the growing number of consumers who are looking to express their personality through their digital toys.
Sony has released an MP3 player in collaboration with J-Pop icons Puffy Amiyumi. Both of the two designs have a retro pop look that also happens to be very fashionable among teens and young women this season.
Softbank, Japan’s fastest growing mobile phone service provider, has announced that pop star Koda Kumi is the latest celebrity to lend her name and questionable design talent to a series of handsets as part of the Fan Fun series.
The bright pink phone comes in three designs “strawberry,” “cherry,” and “candy&pumps” and is obviously targeted at the lucrative cute-obsessed teen and tween market that make up Koda’s fan base. The celebrity-designer element extends to the menus, wallpaper, call and mail indicators, and phone pouch.
Other celebrity collaborations in the 29 design strong series include Bae Yong Joon, the Korean heartthrob popular with middle-aged women, and Riyoko Ikeda, creator of the popular 1970s manga series La Rose de Versailles featuring the cross-dressing heroine Lady Oscar. Both of these examples show that those consumer wishing to express their fandom are not limited to impressionable teens.
Not only do these designer phones allow a degree of personalization, they virtually ensure that customers will need to replace their handsets often.
After all, how much longer can it be cool to carry around the DJ Ozma phone?
