The Vertu Nurburgring Racetrack is a limited edition mobile phone that retailed for about $8,000 new. So one would be forgiven for thinking that this eBay listing, featuring a used model priced at $4,599, is a fake.
The seller says it absolutely is not fake, and he will go out of his way to prove it. He says he will only sell the phone in the US, and will fly to hand deliver the mobile to the winning bidder ... provided the buyer splits the price of the ticket. The San Francisco-based seller is also willing to meet up in person in the Bay Area. He also says he will accompany the potential buyer to the nearest Vertu authorized dealer to verify its authenticity.
Vertu dealers exist in 15 of the 50 United States.
Vertu's phone is made from knurled titanium, with an etching of the Nurburgring circuit on the back. It has a racing leather finish, and a bezel designed to look like a radiator grille.
Somebody somewhere probably thinks this phone is worth $4,600 plus delivery costs. If that is you, then buyer beware: the seller will only accept cash or money wire. Maybe you should bring a bodyguard with you when you make the handoff.
$4600 Vertu Nurburgring Titanium phone turns up on eBay
Vertu Nurburgring Race Track Edition mobile phone
By Zack Newmark
February 24, 2009 6:57 PM
Filed Under: Gadgets, Nürburgring
Tags: Vertu, Vertu Nurburgring Racetrack
Comments
Beetle
February 24, 2009 7:24 PM
At the end of the day , a phone is just a phone.
madness
February 24, 2009 9:28 PM
id rather buy 10 iphone 3g's on ebay then blow my cash on that.I mean how hard is it to scratch the nurburgring track into the back of an iphone???
danat86
February 24, 2009 10:32 PM
wow.. you are comparing vertu to iphone? Its like comparing F430 to Corvette. Vertu is a phone of luxury, of course you are not gonna buy this. If you had money for F430, would you buy F430 or 3 Corvettes? I bet F430, case closed.
Edited by user on February 24, 2009 at 10:33 PM
radmeister
February 24, 2009 11:55 PM
The price looks pretty real to me, the top corner of the leather is scratched so there is a decent $ off the price of it new. Also 4600$ is decent and what it would sell for, you can buy the lowest model of vertu new for 4999$. It would be fairly easy to verify, take the imei # and the unit # and go to a vertu boutique or even just email them and see if the two match. If the Imei is not registered to that model/serial # then its a fake. To me it looks like a really good fake, on the outside it looks real, but inside the behind the battery there is no way it would look that messy, my 1200$ N97 looks 10x better inside the case.
radmeister
February 25, 2009 12:00 AM
Oh and the guy is asian, i can tell by his somewhat feminine hands and finger nails. So i wouldn't trust him that that phone is real, especially when he is willing to do all that stuff for free, like come down and hand deliver it, go to a boutique with you, that's all worth time and $ off of his already half priced vertu. And no person that has 8000$ to spend on a phone would be that desperate to sell it, his time flying and hand delivering the phone would be worth more than 4600$. I say fake. Wouldn't be very hard for those guys in china to buy 1 vertu, and duplicate it 100x, same serial # and imei, it would show up as real when you go check it at the store, they dont keep track of how many times someone has asked about that particular phone, and it would show that it has been sold.
kosherdogs
February 25, 2009 12:19 AM
What if it's a woman holding the phone? Considering the economic crisis, it is quite possible that somebody would work hard to get back $4600. Maybe it means the difference between a few mortgage payments and foreclosure. Either way, it still just looks like an ugly metal brick to me.
afterace2
February 25, 2009 1:27 AM
The specs of this phone are compared to a 100$ nokia, except the material of the casing. Pure show off piece of junk.
Bremen_Koenigsegg
February 25, 2009 3:12 AM
What's its 0-60 time? I wonder if they'll make a convertible version.
uae300
February 25, 2009 3:31 PM
guys heads up.. this is a 100% fake vertu for many resons firsly is that i got the real one and the box is not like that it's waaay diffrent and also the leather at the back i mean good god look at it .. it's no way near the real one...
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