We first spied this bizarre futuristic slab of smartphone back in September, when I asked: What the hell is this BlackBerry phone? At the time it wasn’t clear if it was a prototype or some sort of elaborate hoax.
Fast forward to last week, and we discovered that the silver beauty/monstrosity (delete as appropriate) is in fact the result of a collaboration between RIM and Porsche, essentially a really pretentious BlackBerry Bold Touch.
The design is – predictably – super fancy, including a “forged stainless steel frame, hand-wrapped leather back cover, sculpted QWERTY keyboard, and crystal clear touch display.” Lah-di-dah.
There’s also “an exclusive Porsche Design UI and a bespoke Wikitude World Browser augmented reality app experience”, and – get this – “premium, exclusive PINs that help easily identify another P'9981 smartphone user.” Incredible.
"Since 1972 Porsche Design has presented milestone products with iconic style, and the P'9981 smartphone from BlackBerry will be our next landmark," said Dr. Juergen Gessler, CEO Porsche Design Group, who’s presumably worth a few bob.
"The pure and distinctive design, coupled with authentic materials and an emphasis on the manufacturing process, perfectly match our philosophy and complement the Porsche Design product assortment."
You want one, don’t you? Well, as you might expect, the Porsche Design P'9981 will be released in limited quantity with a suitably sickening price tag. How does $2,000 sound?
via: Engadget
