Vertu

British luxury mobile phone manufacturer (2002-2017) that exemplifies failed intersexual choice - courting preferences customers didn't actually have. Vertu built phones with sapphire screens, titanium bodies, handmade in England, priced $5,000-$300,000. The craftsmanship was genuine (good genes), but phones used outdated components (2-year-old Android, inferior cameras).

Vertu assumed luxury phone customers valued craftsmanship and materials. Reality: customers selected based on software, apps, camera quality, and ecosystem. The honest costly signal addressed the wrong preferences. Result: 350,000 phones sold over 15 years (Apple sells that many every 8 hours). Bankrupted 2017.