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A lot of water has flowed under the bridge from the time that mobiles were unheard of in India to the present where they have become almost ubiquitous. Beginning from those days, Indian subscribers paid around Rs. 16.40 for a mobile to mobile call and around Rs 32.80 for a mobile to a landline call. Today, as per recent statistics, customers pay far lesser for calls and occasional text messages that add up to around Rs 300 a month and upwards.
Now that mobiles have moved into the affordable bracket, there is a great demand for additional mobile services such as mobiles, email, stock market quotes, and astrology services, just to name a few.
A recent survey pointed to the fact that for most customers, mobile phones have become an extension of their personality. Many go a step ahead to say that mobile phones define their individuality as well.
In such a scenario, it is worthwhile to compare the growth of the mobile phone industry vis-a-vis the computer industry in India. According to recent statistics, there are nearly 300 million mobile phone subscribers as compared to just around 30 million PC's in the country. Additionally, around 8 million subscribers are signing up every month for mobile services alone.
For most individuals, mobile phones are becoming a single point of contact for the world surrounding them covering a wide range of utilities like emailing, entertainment, and banking.
More and more people are looking out for more than just talk time on their mobiles. All this is generating a lot of enthusiasm for mobile companies. A number of serious players in this industry are looking at a range of such value added services, which have the capability to boost their bottom line.
Not only are Indians enthralled, but they started spending a considerable amount on these services too. This figure amounted to around $250 million last year. This figure is expected to reach $1.7 billion by the year 2010. This is a boon in disguise for Indian cellular operators who are seriously looking forward to enhance their revenues. Currently, nearly 80% of the revenues come from services like ring tones and SMS. This makes India the second largest mobile market on earth.
The young mobile savvy generation currently feels less privileged in nearly every sector. And that's precisely what is fuelling the growth in mobile services across the country. As the market expands but fulfilling the needs of mobile users by providing them attractive services, mobile phones are becoming a new vehicle for reaching out to the mobile generation.
Mobile content providers also visualise a big jump in their services. These include many global companies such as Google, Yahoo and MSN, which have signed up with many Indian operators like Airtel, Bharti, Vodafone, Tata, and Reliance Communications. Together, they offer a host of services based on the local and regional markets in their area of operation.
The Indian mobile scenario seems to be all set for the next stage – expansion and consolidation, but there are a few complications as well. Not all users can afford costlier services beyond messaging and talk time. What is expected is increase in the already growing user base so such services can become affordable to one and all in the long run.
Nokia's origins, astonishing as it may sound, lie in the paper, cable and rubber industries. A Finnish Engineer by the name of Fredrik Idestam started a paper mill near the river Nokianvirta, in southern Finland and soon discovered success with the rising requirement for paper all through the industrial revolution. Soon after, Finnish Rubber Works was set up in the same area, choosing Nokia as a brand name for many of its rubber products including footwear and tires. It invested sensibly and purchased majority shares in Finnish Cable Works, a firm set up in the early twentieth century, which discovered success in the post World War II period due to a rising requirement for telephone and electric cable.
The real start of Nokia's mobile business can be traced to 1960 when Finnish Cable Works formed its first electronics branch, whose first goal was to promote and run computers. Soon after, Finnish Cable Works and Finnish Rubber Works joined to create the Nokia Group. At this time the electronics division contributed less than five percent of total revenues and it was not until the eighties that Nokia's mobile venture really began to rise.
The era of mobile phones began in 1981 when the original international cellular network, Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT), was created and Europe had by then deregulated its telecommunication industry. Morbia Oy, a joint venture between Nokia and a major Finnish television producer, launched its first portable phone, the Morbia Talkman, followed by the Morbia Cityman, the principal hand held phone that could be used on the Nordic network. By the end of the 1980s Nokia was well positioned to manage the world in mobile communication.
The initial part of the 1990s witnessed the birth of the Global System for Mobile Communication or GSM and Nokia was used to make the first GSM call yet. It was at this time that Nokia's main leadership decided to intentionally concentrate mainly on telecommunication and disassemble its other extraneous divisions. The period was a significant one for Nokia with crucial occasions such as the debut of its first GSM phone, the debut of the famous Nokia Tune and Snake game and the debut of the world's first Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) phone equipped to browse the internet. But most significantly, Nokia was now the comprehensive leader in the mobile phone business having effectively introduced several well renowned models.
Nokia sustained its lead in the twenty first century with the debut of its principal 3G phone in 2002. 3G services permitted mobile users to acquire more innovative services including wireless internet and video calls. Gaming and multimedia had also become a huge industry and Nokia included multiplayer gaming options in its more innovative phones like the N-Gage, while the well-liked N series serviced the wide range of video and audio requirements of its devoted consumers. By 2005 Nokia had sold above one billion phones almost half the number of global cellular subscriptions of two billion.
Now Nokia is well-known as the one of the most valued makes worldwide with thriving businesses in mobile phones, wireless data services, multimedia terminals and telecommunication networks. It has unceasingly brought in contemporary services like the Ovi, a website which lets users to download helpful Nokia applications and save and move digital data, through the years to improve the consumer experience. No wonder thousands of Nokia consumers across the planet look at it not just as a mobile phone, but a way of life.