Original | Odaily Planet Daily
Author | Loopy
The Web3 mobile market is a familiar yet unfamiliar territory for encrypted users. On one hand, Web3 is closely related to us, but on the other hand, a dedicated Web3 phone is far from being widely used for us.
As early as 2022, the famous luxury phone brand Vertu launched the first generation Web3 phone, METAVERTU. Interestingly, this "off-circle" brand became one of the earliest Web3 phones globally, earlier than many "in-circle" Native brands.
At the Token2049 exhibition, Vertu brought its second-generation product, METAVERTU. "Tycoons" may be the most familiar label for this niche brand. But Vertu is much more than that.
For mobile phone users, METAVERTU has security features such as METASPACE and Keybox. And Vertu's development in the Web3 field is not just about phones. In addition to built-in phone functions, there is a deeper exploration of developers and the encrypted ecosystem, such as MPC wallet, I-DID, AI, and even serving as nodes for ZK verification and oracle machines.
Recently, Odaily Planet Daily had the privilege of interviewing Vertu's Asia-Pacific CEO, Molly, to bring everyone closer to this niche and mysterious brand.
The following is the interview record, with some content deleted and modified.
Odaily Planet Daily: I have some understanding of Vertu's brand positioning, which can be said to be unique. Can you briefly introduce the origin of Vertu?
Molly: The Vertu brand originated from Nokia's high-end product line and was established in the UK in 1998.
The original intention of the team at that time was, "Why can't the mobile phone category have luxury products?" So, they created this high-end brand during Nokia's heyday. The reason for establishing it in the UK is because the UK has a cultural and traditional background in this area. For example, British culture, luxury goods, craftsmanship, and so on.
Odaily Planet Daily: What does Vertu's Web3 phone mean? What Web3 functions does the phone have?
Molly: Many encrypted users purchase hardware wallets for wallet security. The principle of a hardware wallet is to encrypt it through an SE security chip. Vertu has designed a security solution at the hardware level, and our security chip is used in the traditional industry at the level of bank IC cards. Physical methods such as infrared and sound waves cannot crack this security chip.
Vertu's phone can be understood as a hardware wallet. The phone has two systems, and after unlocking with a fingerprint or password, you can enter the second private system—METASPACE. Users can use Web3 applications here. The apps in METASPACE are protected by the security chip, providing data destruction and end-to-end encryption.
It also has a Keybox application. Keybox is isolated from the Android system and can be used to store private keys, and the data here is protected by the SE security chip, which cannot be cracked by anyone.
Odaily Planet Daily: Besides this, are there any other encryption functions?
Molly: There are a series of other encryption applications, such as browsers, and so on. But there is not much difference in this area among everyone.
Vertu has an interesting "one-click photo" function, which can quickly generate NFTs after taking a photo. At the exhibition, V God just experienced this function of turning photos into NFTs.
Vertu booth at TOKEN2049
Odaily Planet Daily: In addition to security design, what other layouts does Vertu have in the encryption field?
Molly: Users can use their preferred wallet apps in a secure environment, and Vertu has also developed an MPC wallet.
Vertu has also developed a DID product called I-DID. Currently, Web3 already has many DID solutions, but I-DID is different, using the phone's IMEI as the basis for identity recognition.
Each phone has a globally unique IMEI number, and the IMEI cannot be changed. We use this as the basis for DID identity. The Web3 world widely has studios and click farms, and this can effectively prevent robotic behavior.
For developers, as long as they use I-DID, it means that it is definitely not a robot. We have designed a VIP platform based on I-DID. Developers can use this to obtain high-quality real users.
Our second-generation Web3 phone can also act as a node.
At the hardware level, our chip supports not only security functions. Vertu phones can also perform ZK verification calculations, and its computational efficiency is well optimized.
You can understand Vertu phones as nodes, and in the future, we will cooperate with some projects in need. This will allow users to turn Vertu phones into hardware ZK nodes.
Vertu phones can also act as oracle machines. Vertu has launched the TOPOracleProtocol to ensure the authenticity and credibility of data in the data flow, including support for API solutions for L1 and L2. We hope to establish good infrastructure to connect users and developers.
Odaily Planet Daily: So, Vertu phones are actually nodes?
Molly: Yes. Vertu's hardware can act as a super-light node. We hope to create an ecosystem. Vertu's system also opens APIs to project parties, and some functions can be directly called through smart contracts.
Web3 project parties lack traffic, and we hope that project parties can obtain traffic from high-net-worth customers through us, not just pure click farms.
In the future, cooperation with project parties is essentially to serve our users well. By opening up our traffic, C-end users of the phone can get more services, which is what we want.
Odaily Planet Daily: Vertu's most well-known feature is probably the butler service. Does the Web3 phone inherit this function?
Molly: Of course. We started this service as early as 2002. We assign a real butler to each user, such as arranging medical care, taking care of patients, and so on.
Moreover, the butler can help you do more: for example, if you want to go to a popular restaurant that does not accept reservations, you would have to wait a long time to get a table. But our butler can arrange it for you.
On the Web3 phone, Vertu has also developed an AI-based intelligent assistant application. The assistant combines large language models and small models on the phone. Through a series of natural tools and frameworks, users can systematically build and develop their personal data, effectively utilizing the functions of large models. This allows users to train their own AI, which can become their "second brain."
The "second brain" will record your preferences and do things for you. For example, you can have it summarize your WeChat chats and remind you of things that need follow-up. The more intelligent the AI, the more personal data it needs. But the data of this AI is in the hands of the user, so it is secure.
Vertu is not a native encrypted brand. How can it convince encrypted users to use Vertu's services? Will it replace other wallet providers?
Vertu does not want to be a wallet app to replace other wallets. Vertu is a provider of hardware and infrastructure.
Vertu is more about thinking about the encrypted world from the perspective of hardware, hoping to provide services to users through hardware-level security protection. Users can completely use their preferred mainstream wallets, and we provide security protection.
Odaily Planet Daily: Why does Vertu want to enter the Web3 field? As an ordinary bystander, I feel that the combination of the two sounds quite interesting.
Molly: Yes. In fact, many people have biased perceptions of Vertu. Our most expensive phone sells for millions of yuan, and because of Vertu's high price, people only focus on its luxury attributes. But in fact, from the very beginning, Vertu has been a very innovative technology brand.
Vertu has made many different attempts, but because the brand is so niche, many people do not understand.
Several years ago, Vertu established a huge database on the iceberg to store user data, taking into account environmental protection and the security of user data.
Recently, the Apple launch event just ended, did you notice the highlights of the new iPhone? It uses titanium alloy material. Titanium was first used on the Mars rover, and Vertu has always been paying attention to new processes and new materials, using titanium alloy on Vertu phones many years ago.
For example, sapphire. Because of its high cost, only a small piece could be used in watches at first. Vertu was the first to use sapphire as a screen material for phones. The cost of making a sapphire screen this large is very high. Even now, sapphire screens have not been widely used.
Vertu has always been trying new things. Although the brand is very niche, we have always been experimenting. Vertu has a strong innovation gene, and many senior executives in the company are also staunch advocates of encryption. We believe that encryption can change the world, so it is very important for Vertu to make Web3 phones.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
