Katherine Hannaford writes...

The fashionistas who actually know how to turn on a computer are in a flurry of excitement this week, over the news that Samsung is possibly collaborating with fashion-house Armani to produce a mobile phone. After the recent success of the LG Prada phone, it's natural that other fashion labels will be looking at getting in on the act to produce the next mobile phone du jour. But do we really need another entry-level mobile which has been painted pretty colours, stamped with a sparkly European logo, and costs as much as a Marc Jacobs 'Stam' handbag?

I can understand that for women - and, don't get me wrong, select men as well - owning a branded mobile phone is part and parcel with being seen as fashionable and accepted by your similiarly-fashionable friends. If a product is available with a big fat designer label, then why not succomb to its temptations, particularly when it will match every other logo-fied item of clothing in your wardrobe?

But shouldn't we be choosing mobile phones based on their merits, whether they be in regards to specs, or based on the actual manufacturer and their reputation in the industry? I asked Gemma Cartwright, Editor in Chief of Catwalk Queen, one of the largest fashion sites in the world (and also owned by Shiny Media), her thoughts on the matter. "It would be wrong to think that all fashionistas want is a label and that they're not also interested in the specs - I think that's why the Prada phone, which combined style with sophisticated technology - was such big news for both sides. Tech and fashion now work hand in hand, so these designer collaborations are big money spinners".

One could argue that the reason why fashion mobiles are never as kitted out with high-end specs is because, quite simply (and possibly offensively), the people these phones are aimed at just don't need them, or are even knowledgeable about what they are. People who are aware of who Giambattista Valli is probably aren't looking for push-email and Bluetooth in their Nokia 7373 mobiles, hence Nokia have created what is merely an entry-level phone that is aesthetically pleasing.

Take, for example, the LG Prada phone. When it was released, we saw what is without a doubt the most technologically advanced fashion phone thus far, but before they even launched it, the Communications Manager for LG, Yvan Juget, told me that they were already planning a new phone, that looks and acts exactly the same as the touch-screen model, minus the Prada branding, and laden with more attractive specifications.

No doubt this new model - which may or may not be the as yet unreleased KU990 model, which we recently wrote about, aims on targeting people who liked the clean lines and form of the LG Prada, but who don't want to tar themselves with owning a fashion phone with, for them, may be embarassing specifications.

Indeed, I myself, a tech-orientated woman who will willingly admit to whiling away the hours browsing Catwalk Queen or previously editing a handbag blog, The Bag Lady, would actually be embarassed owning a fashion mobile. Whether this is due to being concerned over what other people would think of me, clutching a Diane Von Furstenberg Sidekick, or actually wanting a phone with a bit more beef to it, I don't know. But what I am sure of is that even if Marc Jacobs, a designer whose toilet I would willingly lick clean with my own tongue for, released a mobile, I would never once consider buying it. Even if I do lust after every piece of clothing in his archives.

"Getting a designer phone is often a lot cheaper than getting a designer dress, so I think a lot of the people that buy these phones are the ones who can't afford the designer outfits to go with them", Cartwright commented, which is blatantly evident in this world where people will queue for hours to get their manicured little hands on whatever Kate Moss/Lily Allen/Madonna have thrown up onto the high street stores of London.

Whether Samsung's rumoured collaboration with Armani will succeed - or even come into fruition is as yet unknown, but it's bound to show a new breed of fashion mobiles, those aimed primarily at men. Rumours are circulating like full models around a toilet bowl that the collaboration will be the Samsung F700 (seen on the right here), which we first heard of months back, but is still as yet unreleased. Stylish in its black casing, it's possibly the most aesthetically pleasing smartphone we've seen, and has already piqued many peoples' interest, including my own.

But if it were to be branded with Armani's label, would we still lust after it and its QWERTY keyboard? As aforementioned, I doubt I would, and it'd be a shame for Samsung to lose so many people merely because of a 'mutually beneficial partnership'.

I think I'll wait for the spec'd up, label-less version released six months after its launch, thankyouverymuch.

Katherine Hannaford is Deputy Editor of Tech Digest and has only owned HTC smartphones the past 18 months. She will be infinitely proud of herself for abstaining from mentioning the iPhone in this column, the quintessential fashion phone of them all. Oh, whoops...

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