We dont normally get too excited about handsets here at Mobile Marketing Mag; its the services you can get on them that interest us. But we couldnt resist sharing a story that came in this morning from Midas Touch International, which gold-plates ring bling mobile phones, among other things.
Midas founder Laban Roomes tells us he is just back from the Emmy Awards, after a nomination he never expected. One week before the Emmys, which took place last weekend, Laban got a call from the organisers asking if he could knock up 55 of his 24-carat gold-plated Nokia 5500s, worth 700 each, to be dropped in the Awards goody bags of stars like Denzel Washington and Helen Mirren.
In true Hollywood style, against the odds, Laban met the deadline, flying out to deliver the handsets personally, after they had survived a transatlantic trip in the hold.
I did have a bit of explaining to do at the airport, but when I told them these were going to the Emmys, they were not only convinced, they were seriously impresssed says the 35-year old entrepreneur.
Now Roomes is planning a new-look product for cell phone trendsetters – diamond studded phones, with prices starting at 1,800.
I think Laban has some great ideas says Yo Sushi! founder and champion of young British talent, Simon Woodroffe. Nobody needs a gold-plated or diamond-studded mobile phone of course. But if you can afford it, why not? 
