Cute designer phone, dorky marketing push
Attention teen girls: Would you buy a phone from the woman in the picture?
For starters, do you know who this is? No? Come on, she created the iconic wrap dress in 1972! Hmm, let's see..she's married to Barry Diller, CEO of IAC/InterActive Corp., which owns online properties like Ask.com and Evite. Still nothing? Don't worry, that means you're completely...normal.
DvF.com
T-Mobile announced that a couple of limited-edition versions of the Sidekick 3 will be available starting Oct. 30, and one of them is designed by Diane von Furstenberg. Not to be ageist, but the woman is 60, and they're using her to market a phone to 15-year-old girls?
OK, seriously, what is happening?
The T-Mobile press release describes her as one of "today's hottest and most authentic names." Um, OK. Sure, the phone she designed is kinda hip, if a black handset with hot-pink lipstick prints is your thing. But people buy Sidekicks to instant message, e-mail, surf the Web, take photos, listen to MP3 files and, most importantly, check MySpace or Facebook accounts.
And, for the record, I checked, Diane does not have a MySpace page.
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur. E-mail Erica. 
