Nokia and the Global Mobile Phone Industry

Nokia drew on its experience of setting up Nordic cellular networks (which were more advanced than those used by Japan, the rest of Europe, and the US at that time) to successfully adopt the GSM standard. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1994. Over the 1990s, Nokia became one of the most successful mobile phone manufacturers in the world and began to enter non-Scandinavian markets as well.

Nokia was also one of the first mobile manufacturers to realize the importance of the design element in mobile phones and its phones were more aesthetically designed than those of competitors. In 1998, Nokia overtook Motorola to become the largest mobile manufacturer in the world...

In mid-2004, The Economist wrote, "When a firm dominates its market, especially one that is driven by constant technological advances, it risks becoming so fixated with trying to ward off what it reckons to be its most powerful challenger that it leaves itself vulnerable to attack from other directions."Analysts said this statement accurately characterized what happened with Nokia.

In the early 2000s, Microsoft Corp (Microsoft) announced its decision to enter the mobile phones market. The announcement set alarm bells ringing in Nokia as Microsoft had the reputation of being an aggressive competitor...