The range includes an iPhone studded with 88 diamonds commemorating Beijing’s summer Olympics. 88 signifies double wealth in Chinese superstition, the jewellers explained. That’s why the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics is 8/8/08 at 8pm. The 88 diamonds are set into the steel bezel surrounding the iPhone’s screen. The price is £4148 ($8219). De Vere’s is aiming its exclusively blinged-iPhones at the booming £700 million ($1.4 billion) luxury cellphone market that is driven by the new rich of China, Russia and the Middle East. Another De Vere iPhone design contains 28 diamonds (£1,700, £3,376). 28 translates into easy to get wealth or easy to get rich. A design containing 168 diamonds translates into want smooth wealth. This version is £7,800 ($15,493). “At De Vere’s of London we’ve looked at designing and creating diamond phones for some time”. Said Philip De Vere. “We wanted to have the most elegant, glamorous and desired phones without being excessive. “The black backed 3G iPhone came along at the right time. Its smooth, symmetrical and uncluttered shape was perfect. Inset this with diamonds and it’s reminiscent of a Cartier Art Deco vanity case of the 1920s. Very chic and glamorous,” he added. De Vere’s then offered the luxury goods makers greatest compliment: “The Apple iPhone is already the most desirable phone on the market. We wanted to create the most desirable luxury phone on the market”.
