Fancy pens are fancy. They’re nice to own, really great to write with, and awful pretty. But what happens when you mash up fancy pen manufacturer Montblanc with some digital paper? Baby, you got a 21st century stew goin’.
Montblanc calls it Montblanc Augmented Paper and it’s basically specially coded (and coated) paper that lets the pen and notebook sense their position. The pen lasts for eight hours on one charge and you can store 100 pages until you need to move the text to the Montblanc Hub for transcription in up to 12 languages.
The wackiest thing? Montblanc wants $725 for this kit and, although you do get a nice StarWalker pen and fancy “black Italian leather” notebook made by Montblanc Pelletteria in Florence.
This kind of thing is definitely not new. You can get a digital pen/paper combo from Livescribe for the entry-level price of $129 and a Moleskine version for $180. Obviously Montblanc’s solution looks far better, especially since it doesn’t have a bulbous position sensor near the tip of the pen.
Why would Montblanc, provider of writing instruments to royalty, oligarchs, and gangsters, do something like this? Why not. Plutocrats need digital services too and this offers the best of a few worlds at least in terms of technology, design, and aesthetics.
The Montblanc gear will be available at “Harrods, 2nd Floor, The Great Writing Room” in London until October 1st after which time you can send your manservant to pick one up in United States, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea. China, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico and UAE, will get them in November.
