Bang & Olufsen backs out of cellphones, more

Danish luxury device maker Bang & Olufsen is already exiting the cellphone business as well as other fields, the company has revealed. Although the company has only released two products, the Samsung co-developed Serenata and the earlier Serene, company chief Karl Kristian Hvidt Nielsen explains that B&O will have to leave the market as collapsing property values have made it harder for buyers to afford its products in general. The company instead plans to focus on "core products" such as TVs and speakers and will also drop DVD players and other non-essential devices.

Luxury cellphones have struggled in the marketplace with the rise of smartphones, which cost less but often have more features. Devices such as the Serenata or Nokia's Vertu series are often conventional phones with exotic materials such as gold or titanium as well as special support. The Serenata has since been outclassed by devices as the iPhone 3G, which holds both more storage and a more advanced interface.

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