Who are Nokia´s customers?

I was recently teaching at the Helsinki Summer University and used an article by Harvard Business Review to teach how value can be created and in particular captured in a value net environment (hbr 1995 July August). We went through the cases of the article and the students were fast to learn, but pointed out that these models are not applied in the modern environment. We started to debate how these models could be applied in present business environments.

A very simple question is to ask, who is Nokia´s customer. You can replace the word Nokia with any manufacturer of a mobile phone. One would assume that the customer is the person who buys the phone. This however is only partially true. Every mobile phone comes with a place for the operator Sim card. The phone has been designed in such a way that it really has no major value unless you connect it with an operator. Thus Nokia´s customer is also the operator and here there is a conflict of interest. How can Nokia get as much value as possible from the end user and at the same time optimise the phone for the operator so that the operator can receive as much value as possible.

I have an E7 phone. It´s great, but I am still not 100% sure if I am using wlan or 3 G connection. In particular I would like to use the wlan to download maps and the 3G to show my position on the map - because roaming charges are excessive.

As a consumer I would be wise to try to unbudle the operator from my mobile phone. This can be done by buying an Internet tablet e.g. an Archos. It comes with in built wlan connectivity and also with blue tooth. On the rare occasion that I would actually need operator connectivity (e.g. 3G) I could couple tha Archos device through a bluetooth connection to a mobile network. This needs a little skill, but ensures that it is the consumer who captures value.

The operators and mobile phone manufacturers need to be concerned. However they can also ensure that value creation is made as easy as possible for the consumer. Try for instance taking a photograph and uploading it to upoyr mobile device. Easy, is it?