Land Rover have teamed up with Bullitt Group, a Reading-based phone maker, to create the equivalent of a four-wheel-drive smartphone aimed at a new generation of outdoor enthusiasts and extreme sports fans.
Details of the handset are to be kept under wraps until the launch. However, Bullitt have said it will appeal to those with an active lifestyle.
There are some difficulties in designing a handset for a ‘Land Rover’ customer. Charlie Henderson, head of Bullitt’s lifestyle and peripherals division, explained how it’s complicated by the different styles of vehicles made by Land Rover “some of it’s cars are popular with the “Knightsbridge elite” and others with farmers — people with different communications needs”.
Land Rover are also keen to not limit the product to existing Land Rover customers.“Someone who drives a Honda Civic or Toyota Land Cruiser may never have thought they would have a Land Rover in the drive but they would do the three peak challenge.” It is key that the new phone will have appeal past those buying the cars.
The price of the new phone won’t be announced until the launch, but is expected to be positioned mid-to-high-end alongside models such as the Samsung Galaxy S6.
Land Rover are hoping that they can still make their mark on the smartphone market by appealing to customers who need a more rugged, dependable handset and it will be interesting to see what their model features when it launches.
