The Finnish economic daily news paper Kauppalehti (30.8) has an interesting article on the use of mobile phones in accessing the Internet
(http://www.kauppalehti.fi/5/i/talous/uutiset/etusivu/uutinen.jsp?oid=20100815231&ext=rss)
Over 40 % of the downloads are done with an IPhone. The market share of IPhone phones on the market is far far lower. Thus IPhone is over represented. I have a Nokia E71 and I am happy to notice that it is placed second on the list. I have been relatively satisfied with my phone and have used it for c 2 years already.
The article also notes that one of the greatest bottle necks from the perspective of service providers, is the lack of an efficient billing system. I am off course happy with free content, but I understand the need for service providers to find business models other than advertisement based.
An interesting observation is also the fact that there are superusers and that these super users are very important. You might want to look into my PhD thesis or to comments on a Howard Rheingold email interview way back in 2004 titled "email, scale free networks and the mobile internet" (http://thefeaturearchives.com/topic/Networks/Email__Scale-Free_Networks__and_the_Mobile_Internet.html). Super users or super popular services (e.g. Facebook or YouTube are no suprise to me.
Another interesting observation of the article is that some services are becoming "sticky" i.e. users continue to use certain services and stick with the service. The concept of "stickiness" is well described in Malcolm Gladwells book "Tipping Point". Personally I am stuck with the Sports-Tracker service (http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/home) and was prepared to migrate with the service once it recently changed from a beta service to another site, which ment downloading the service a second time and going through some installation phases.
tiistai 31. elokuuta 2010
maanantai 30. elokuuta 2010
Finland admits failure in building the information society and starts to act?
The Federation of Finnish Technology industries (http://www.teknologiateollisuus.fi/en/) has published a report Digital Finland (in Finnish digitaalinen Suomi -http://www.teknologiainfo.net/content/kirjat/pdf-tiedostot/Sahko_elektroniikka_ja_tietoteollisuus/digitaalinen_suomi-ekirja.pdf?from=11376748755378896).
The report makes an interesting read. First of all it admits that the Finnish Society has to a large extent failed in adopting digital technology and failed in building the information society. I agree with this statement and believe that admitting the fact is the first step to creating change. Secondly the report goes on to show how the Finnish industries can build both products and services, which will help in building change i.e. it argues that this is a potential growth market to Finnish companies. In these respects the report is great.
However I am concerned about the market. I would argue that the potential customers in Finland (and possibly also abroad) do not understand the potential of these new products and services. The potential customers do not know how to build efficiency with information technology. These potential customers need to be educated.
Suvi Linden, the minister of communications in Finland, does not admit failure in building the information society (http://www.digitoday.fi/yhteiskunta/2010/06/25/suvi-lindn-puolustaa-parjattua-tietoyhteiskuntaa/20108959/66). What else could a politician answer when her area of responsibility is attacked. In this respect I understand her answer. However she goes on to argue that many of the elements of building the information society are not and should not be her responsibility i.e. the responsibility of the Ministry of Communications, but the responsibility of the respective ministries e.g. the Ministry of Education and Culture (http://www.minedu.fi/OPM/?lang=en) and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (http://www.stm.fi/en/frontpage). I feel that this comment goes along my thinking that the customers - in this case the mininistries representing - the Finnish public sector need to be educated on how to use the possibilities of information tools.
My observation is that there is a need to educate the customer. Lets see if and how this need will emerge.
The report makes an interesting read. First of all it admits that the Finnish Society has to a large extent failed in adopting digital technology and failed in building the information society. I agree with this statement and believe that admitting the fact is the first step to creating change. Secondly the report goes on to show how the Finnish industries can build both products and services, which will help in building change i.e. it argues that this is a potential growth market to Finnish companies. In these respects the report is great.
However I am concerned about the market. I would argue that the potential customers in Finland (and possibly also abroad) do not understand the potential of these new products and services. The potential customers do not know how to build efficiency with information technology. These potential customers need to be educated.
Suvi Linden, the minister of communications in Finland, does not admit failure in building the information society (http://www.digitoday.fi/yhteiskunta/2010/06/25/suvi-lindn-puolustaa-parjattua-tietoyhteiskuntaa/20108959/66). What else could a politician answer when her area of responsibility is attacked. In this respect I understand her answer. However she goes on to argue that many of the elements of building the information society are not and should not be her responsibility i.e. the responsibility of the Ministry of Communications, but the responsibility of the respective ministries e.g. the Ministry of Education and Culture (http://www.minedu.fi/OPM/?lang=en) and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (http://www.stm.fi/en/frontpage). I feel that this comment goes along my thinking that the customers - in this case the mininistries representing - the Finnish public sector need to be educated on how to use the possibilities of information tools.
My observation is that there is a need to educate the customer. Lets see if and how this need will emerge.
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