Philips enters partnership with Swarovski

Dutch consumer electronics giant Philips has entered a new partnership with Swarovski. The company has been working on integrating consumer electronics into clothing for some time now as it believes it is an important growth market for the future. By partnering with the fashionable Swarovski crystal company, Philips hopes to hit the right note with sophisticated female consumers. The two companies have created a range of fashionable, but technologically advanced accessories such as earphones, and USB-sticks.

The picture shows a USB-stick called Heart Beat that doubles as a necklace. The USB-stick has 1 gigabyte of memory. The products are distributed through consumer electronics retailers and Swarovski stores.

It will be interesting to see how this partnership will work out for Philips. In the past the company has been criticized for being good at product development, but lacking the competencies to market products worldwide. Analysts point out that other electronics companies have been more successful in creating a hype, the obvious example being technology company Apple.