French fashion-house Christian Dior has teamed up with Swiss-jeweler Swarovski to create a crystal-studded version of its new "My Dior" luxury phone.

Dubbed the "Lady Dior," the crocodile skin exterior is inlaid with 640 stones of 3251 carats of Swarovski crystals. The handset includes a 2.6-inch touch screen with QVGA resolution, 2.0-megapixel camera, ringtones. Users can pick up or make calls with a miniature phone the size of a USB key, and use the main phone for more complicated functions - ideal for women who don't want to rummage through their bags to find their phones.

"In the same way that we have developed our watch and jewelry lines, we want to increase sales with the phone," said Sidney Toledano, Christian Dior CEO. "What really convinced us was seeing the attention people in emerging markets pay to buying a phone, by selecting the color and design."

Luxury goods makers have started venturing into mobile devices. After Dolce & Gabbana sold $315 million worth of its Gold Motorola RAZR phones, Italian fashion house Prada soon followed suit, launching a phone with South Korea's LG Electronics.

But Dior's new phone is priced higher than rivals, closer to Nokia's premium line Vertu, which also starts in the $7,900 range. Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and Giorgio Armani all have phones out that cost around $950.

Taking nearly three years to design, the handset is made by a small French manufacturer ModeLabs. My Dior starts at $5,500 or $7,900 and up while the Swarovski-studded version will be sold for $26,000.

My Dior will be marketed as early as June 2008 and begin selling shortly thereafter.

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