Nowhere on Earth do brand goods go down better than in Japan, with so-called designer labels stuck on everything from special-edition Hello Kitty key rings to cross-branded fast food, so NTT DoCoMo 's new Dolce & Gabbana handset is in good company.
For ¥75,000 (£325) label obsessives can pick up a gold D&G M702iS , AKA the Motorola RAZR localised for Japan. Being such an exclusive phone, it's available not in shops but only online, either by i-mode or through DoCoMo's website, and in bricks-and-mortar D&G stores. In Japan, entry to the latter is granted only after a credit check, we're told
Limited appeal
Considering that the identical, non-branded RAZR is currently selling for less than one quarter that price, the brand benefits seem pretty limited. There's an eel skin case, a D&G strap, a couple of on-screen graphics and, "four original ring tones ... selected by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana".
Needless to say, anyone still interested in flying to Japan to pick up the new gold wonder before the offer disappears forever at the end of May probably doesn't need reminding of the old saying about money and sense.