The communications industry - Free Essay Example

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW INDUSTRY ENVIRONMENT The largest market share in the communications industry is, held by Nokia, with Motorola trailing in second place. In general economic conditions in most global industries have hit a point of stagnant or declining sales. In todays world, businesses need to somewhat accurately forecast the future outlook for global economies and then make investments and decisions accordingly. The communications industry is dependent on vendor financing and has taken a big hit because of it. Vendor financing is an important part of the purchase decision for buyers. Vendor financing helps equipment makers capture large contracts even when capital is scarce while allocating carriers to build out their networks more quickly and cheaply. (www.activemedia-guide.com/telecos_equipment.htm) Due to main reliance on vendors, this industry has substantial risks. The biggest threat to telecommunication hardware vendors may be the growing clout that cable companies have with high speed Internet access using cable modems (www.activemediaguide.com/telecos_equipment.htm). If Nokia and Motorola do not stay ahead of the cable companies in technology, their position in the market will be highly threatened. Communication hardware companies are benefiting from worldwide deregulation in telecommunication services and intense competition among industry players (www.activemedia-guide.com/telecos_equipment.htm). By deregulating the industry, companies will have more freedom in their decision-making processes. In addition, there is intense pressure on demand for changing technologies. Communications hardware companies need to ensure that their products are compatible with the newest features. Many are trying their best to differentiate their product from their competitors. Examples include features such as voice mail, two way text messaging, e-mail capability, and Internet access. The competitive advantages in this industry include making versions of the features superior to that of the competition. With that in mind, the industry will experience a transition from copper wire to fiber optic transmission. Due to the high costs of installing fiber optic cables it will take years for the global markets to become saturated. This change in the industry includes benefits such as voice, data, video, and text over the same lineand fiber optic cable does not suffer from signal distortion and degeneration which copper wire suffers from (www.activemedia-guide.com/telecos_equipment.htm). The communications industry does not show a strong sense of ethical values. Most companies use a generic template. Communication corporations do not make any of their own additions to the documents, nor do they elaborate on the topics, as Motorola has always done. Motorola has a training program that gives their employees what if scenarios. These scenarios are a way that Motorola tries to make their employees aware of situations and guides them through the ethical way of handling each. Devoting all the time and money that Motorola does to their ethical training proves that their focus is on conducting business in an ethical way, but by putting so much focus on ethics they are have not been able to catch up to the rest of the industry. OPERATING ENVIRONMENT Motorola is a main supplier of wireless infrastructure products the support equipment that make pagers, two-way radio systems, and cellular phones operate. The main source of revenue is typically from major telephone companies that place large orders to update or expand their network infrastructure. These customers seek cutting edge technologies that require significant investment in RD. Economies of scale provide the bigger equipment manufacturers with a competitive edge in pricing when filling such large orders. Motorola also receives a significant amount of business from individual or personal subscribers. Motorolas main competitors in the wireless infrastructure sector are Nokia and Ericcson, along with Lucent and Nortel. The competitive environment for communications equipment require that vendors offer attractive financing terms to their customers as an important part of their sales packages. Motorola leads the cable modem market with a 41% share, followed by Toshiba Corp. at 18%, and Thomson Multimedia at 13%. With intense pricing competition, pricing pressure was as strong as ever in 2001 in such markets as wireless handsets. New competitors in the field, such as Samsung and Siemans, have helped to speed up the pace of innovation by pressuring established companies such as Motorola to protect their market share. Rapid technology gains and product innovations by Motorolas rivals in wireless communications, combined with a downturn in demand for semiconductors and pagers, and an economic slowdown in parts of Asia hurt the revenue and profitability of Motorola. Lack of a competitive digital product also hurt Motorola in the Asian market. For example their digital phones didnt work on GSM (global standard for mobile communications). Motorola lost a number of contracts and customers due to poor switching capabilities of its digital equipment. Motorola made poor management decisions and focused on the wrong products. To improve market share and revenue earnings, Motorola was organized into three major enterprises to reduce interdivisional competition, encourage sharing of ideas, reduce development costs, and coordinate actions between Motorolas business units. A major problem Motorola had was a decentralized approach to running its different businesses and divisions. Motorola has approximately 90,000 employees that speak more than 50 different home languages and belong to as many or more cultures. These employees must be educated on other cultures beliefs, customs, and ways of life. Unfortunately, Motorola, along with many other companies in their industry, are forced to make workforce reductions. Motorola cut 32,000 employees in 2001, equaling 22% of their entire workforce. Most of the major communications infrastructure manufacturers maintain significant operations overseas. Motorola, along with other companies, are subject to foreign economy and currency risk. Firms based in the United States, overseas sales are translated from local currencies into dollars: a strong dollar hurts reported earnings and a weaker dollar helps. Motorola must also keep a careful watch on other company specific risks such as effects of protectionism, fluctuations in economic growth, and political instability when investing in foreign countries. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is another concrete law that must be followed by Motorola to its fullest extent and knowledge because whats considered unacceptable business practices in the United States is considered acceptable elsewhere. Crisis in MotorolaEven though Motorola have the number one Headset on the market there are still a few issues that they are experiencing. Motorola Blue tooth headset has caused a few problems for giant cellular phone makers. In deed Bluetooth Headsets are nice for an individual to have, just because it is hand free. But over the years there have been some issues with other phones that Motorola has and not being able to have access the Bluetooth. Not all cellular phones a Bluetooth ready. That became a crisis and issue to customers who could not afford the Bluetooth ready phones. At this point Motorola is experiencing an identity crisis with the model phone v1150. Now they have turned it into the Razor v3x. The Razor v3x is just the v1150 with two way radio, two cameras, and a front facing VGA for video caller ID. It still has the same style the slim line high class shell phone. Customers are having a problem with buying the same only to get different features. TasksFuture options for Motorola is currently being put in place through the companies research and development areas. The time period in which will be needed to fully market, produce and bring the customer base both businesses and customers on board with any new development and product introduced is currently on a two year track to match the current updating to electronics devices and to keep steam-lining networks already in place that will need to be updated. The companys reorganization has continued after the highly publicized spin off of its semiconductor unit. Its remaining operations have been focused in four business segments: connected home solutions; government and enterprise mobility solutions; mobile devices; and networks. Lastly, Motorola will need to start a campaign to regain lost respect and start trying to publicly repair its reputation of aggressive market seizing that it has been doing for the last five years. This effort of merging, buying out and using its resourc es to acquire companies with new technologies in the areas Motorola currently domatinates has harmed and even brought in question the Motorola Corp mission statement and ethical standing in business world both domestic and Foreign. Ergonomic and functional the mobile phone is of a convenient size and is easy to use, allowing for consumers to easily operate the phone seeing as most will be first time users. This will help reduce inertia to operating the phone and being able to easily see the benefits of owning one. -For the consumers to easily see the benefits that it can offer them, the prospect of it being a sustainable product to market to the bottom of pyramid consumers seems relatively high. The cultural barrier may seem only minor as mobile products are already selling to those of the same cultural background but in more affluent demographics. For areas that do not have any reception, Motorola can install its own reception towers based on the numbers that it will benefit and the percentage of users they prospect in purchasing the product. This will determine if it will be beneficial in terms of being cost-effective and profitable in the future. The cost can be shared between service providers and Motorola where beneficial to both parties as they can satisfy their existing customers with greater reception range as well as gain prospective customers. This expansion into the bottom of the pyramid market base can receive negative media attention, which can drastically effect the market share and profitability of Motorola in the future. This, for example, was seen in 1998 after human rights groups publicized Nikes use of child labour in manufacturing plants in China and Cambodia, creating a loss of market share (Golden J. 1999). To combat this, Motorola should sponsor a humanitarian project based on improving the quality of life for people in these regional areas from donating part of their profits gained from expanding their operations to this market segment. This will not only prevent any bad press being placed upon Motorola but will boost its image of being a socially ethical company. In terms of the costs involved for having mobile phone service, Motorola could distribute the phone with low priced prepaid simcards, as those who live in rural areas and out of urban environments may not have postal addresses, bank accounts or a suitable credit history that can satisfy requirements to meeting post-paid service contracts. This will also allow users to pay as they go, therefore restricting usage to the amounts they can afford and abolishing any need for contracts. Having a prepaid simcard will also remove the inertia and cultural barrier associated with marketing post-paid contracts. The future of emerging markets may find a trend of people within the bottom of the pyramid shifting towards the middle class. Motorola will have to monitor and continue marketing to middle class consumers, maitaining market share through return salesConclusion and recommendations: The most effective course of action within 1 year of product release that Motorola should take in marketing low-cost mobile phone products the bottom of the pyramid consumer demographic should be as follows:-Delivering the low-cost mobile phone product that carries the features mentioned above in densely populated areas where majority of sales will most likely be made-Providing prepaid simcards with the product to allow users to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"pay as they go, thus removing the barriers of entry mentioned above with marketing post-paid contracts to this group. V. External/Competitive Impact The basic concepts and architecture of the cell phone has reached the Paradigmatic Stage. However, with the number of additional features being added to the cell phone and the underlying technology required to implement those features, the industry as a whole is in the Preparadigmatic Stage. As more and more people use cell phones on a regular basis, companies are looking to add new features to the cell phone to both encourage customers of their competitors to become their customers and to encourage those holdouts who are not yet using a cell phone to give it a try. Motorola and its semiconductor are right on the forefront of these changes and innovations, but their competitors are not exactly standing still, and of course there are other factors to consider One such other factor is the economy as a whole. Ever since 9/11 a great debate has been going on as to the state of the economy. Jobs have been lost, companies have downsized, and some would say that hard times are on the are on the horizon for cell phone manufacturers. USA Today reported that Wall Street frets that, to boost sales, cell phone makers might be cutting prices too much (Backover). Motorola, it appears, does not agree with this assessment. Calling a telecom rebound imminent, Motorola Computer Group will unveil a hardware and software platform for next-generation telecommunications equipment. This was reported by the EE Times on March, 29th. However, some skeptics argue that equipment makers remain too cash-poor to afford the technology (Murray) Motorola needs to pursue some of these new innovations to remain successful since the company saw its 4th quarter market share slip in 2003. This is particularly troubling considering that Nokia, despite a loss of market share of its own, has now passed Motorola and become the new leader in the North American cell phone handset industry. This was reported on compoundsemiconductor.net who said the reason for this is [t]he market share appears to have swung towards the Asian manufacturers Samsung (10.5%) and LG (5%), as sales of phones in this region, particularly China, have shown strong growth (COMPOUNDSEMICONDUCTOR.NET ). Samsung was even named the best CDMA cellular phone sold in the US by the February issue of Consumer Reports (www.samsung.com/PressCenter/FeatureArticles/FeatureArticles.asp). Motorolas rivals are busy with innovations of their own. Samsung is joining with IBM and several other companies to work on the semiconductor logic process (www.samsung.com/PressCenter/PressR elease/PressRelease.asp). Samsung has also completed development of the worlds first satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) chip for mobile phones. (SAMSUNG ) Nokia, on the other hand, is pushing forward with 3G technology and has partnered with TRW to develop base stations for this promising technology. (press.nokia.com/PR/200005/781616_5.html ). 3G is really just a collection of standards and technologies which will be used in the near future to enhance performance. (www.3g-cell-phones.com/) It has been touted as the future of cell phones but it has yet to be accepted. Perhaps that is about to change with the push that Nokia is making. One path that the industry, as a whole, is taking is integrating a more common implementation of Java on cell phones. As cell phones are becoming more and more PDA like, the ability to run Java applications is becoming more and more important. Currently, however, there is a large difference between the different manufacturers implementations. This makes it hard for application developers who try to write the Java applications for the phones. Now, thanks to the Jazelle instruction-set extensions by ARM Ltd., manufacturers can now add hardware acceleration for the Java applications. This not only allows for greater standardization, but also allows the Java apps to run much more efficiently. Along with the hardware acceleration the Mobile Information Device Profile 2.0 (MIDP) has been released which will also encourage greater standardization. Motorola has unveiled three phones that utilize the new MIDP profile that they plan to ship by the end of the year, 2004. In addition Siemens Mob ile Phones has plans in the works to release similar products as well as Nokia. Nokia has released a beta testing version of its Development Suite for lava, to encourage programmers to write applications for their phones. Neither Motorola, Siemens, and Nokia have produced phones with the hardware acceleration, but all three say the plan to in the near future (Merritt). There is one area in which some cell phone designers are making significant innovations that Motorola has yet to enter is EDGE networks. EDGE, or Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution networks offer faster data rates than current Global System for Mobile Communications/General Packet Radio Service networks, but fall short of the data rates promised by the oft-delayed 3G networks (Krazit). Edge networks are starting to be built in the United States, but it will likely be a couple of years before they start to gain major acceptance (Evers). Chip makers Intel and Texas Instruments are currently leading the way in the development of this technology. Both companies have released chip sets that will allow cell phones to take advantage of the EDGE networks. Nokia however has unveiled plans for phones that will run on EDGE networks (Blau). Motorola has been quiet about these developments but that may be because it is waiting for the spin off of its semiconductor division to be complete (Kraz it). VI. Innovative Capacity and Capability Research and Development Motorola has always taken pride in being a leader in innovation in the Semiconductor industry. They continue to do so in their many labs in Austin, TX, Temple, AZ, Europe and China. The labs are forerunners in a various range of technology that are critical in order to achieve a true system-integration and the system-on-chip solution. This team works toward technology that is 3-15 years in the future. The research and development ends at Motorolas final manufacturing technology centers located in various places around the world. These facilities are designed in order to effectively implement the new technologies in all manufacturing areas. These manufacturing areas are responsible for the electronic packaging processes, materials, layouts, designs, and final tests of the product. The following are examples that will show where Motorola is heading in the future and why they will continue to be an industry leader within their field. Until recently there has not been any major technical advancement in the mobile phone over the last 3 years. Due to poor technical specifications and inflated expectations (due to the promotional strategies undertaken), WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) enabled handsets and other internet based communications devices were commercial failures which was reflected in the poor unit sales figures for the period. With the prospect of the 3rd generation of mobile phones coming onto the market between 2003 2006, the industry has started to become more lucrative. Worldwide mobile phone sales in the 3rd quarter of 2002 totalled 104.3 million units (a 7.8% increase from the same time 1 yr prior. Information source: Dataquest Inc) Nokia expects the market to grow to between 440 million- 460 million units in 2003 overall. However business analysts generally think to be around 435 million in the 2003 financial year. Nokia believe that Europe is the major market where consumers are looking to upgrade their handset in 2003. Mobile phone subscribers will be looking to replace their old phones with the new breed of mobiles available at the moment with digital camera/ colour screen capabilities. Confirmation of this trend in the industry is by the sheer volume of people signing up for the new MMS (Multimedia Messaging Services), 20,000 for T-Mobile in Germany alone, and 30,000 in the UK for Vodafone, all in a 6 month period. The popularity of the SMS (Short Message Service) has been the main contributor to this new breed of messaging. When 3G is introduced it will have all the capability that these new phones have and more. However, by the time 3G is incorporated into the market place, MMS will be widely accepted and the cost of the service will have decreased. Producers of mobile communications such as Nokia Sony Ericcson, along with the network providers T-Mobile, Orange, Vodafone O2 are expecting that the introduction of the new MMS services will enable them to achieve the growth objectives provide a new untapped resource of revenue from increased unit sales. Although this new MMS service will most definitely cause an upturn in a currently flagging market, it should not be relied on too heavily as a main source of revenue or selling point. Sending of MMS messages is still very expensive in comparison to SMS texting. Also, the handsets which have the capability to do so are still particularly expensive may be out of reach (financially) to those who send most messages (88% of all messages are sent buy under 22 year olds and most of them in the teen market). The current market trend of SMS messaging should not be neglected as it currently accounts for 12% of the total revenue generated for network providers. PEST Analysis Political and Legal Factors Political factors have increased in toughness for mobile phone operators as phones become more advanced. In particular the way in which billing information is handled in the future will be affected by new anti-terrorist legislation imposed by the government. The 3G mobile phones are expected to obtain data pinpointing the whereabouts of the mobile phone user to within a couple of meters. It is proposed this information is retained in the future for longer periods than mobile operators have done so in the past in order to attempt to locate criminal movement. The government have invested in independent research into health affects of mobile phones. The outcomes have been inconclusive, however scientists have stated the use of mobile phones does affect brain activity. This is not proof of damage, however the government are keen to have an answer and this could affect the use of future mobile phones. The intervention of government noticing the escalating crimes focused on or around mobile phones has an impact on their development. The phones have to be less appealing to thieves by some form of internal security as phone thieves begin to target children equipped with a mobile phone by parents or guardians for safety reasons. Copyright and Patents of new developed technology has to be conformed by for ourselves and others. Economic Factors The current economy in the UK is very strong, boasting high employment and a high average age. In such situations the public have increased disposable income enabling a trend to spend money on luxury items. Should the economy begin to slow down and many of the population fearing recession, sales of 3G mobile phones would suffer. Businesses and individuals unsure of their financial standing would begin to spend less on items not deemed necesscary. The way of avoiding such dramatic affects of economic change is to perceive the goods as must have products. Marketable to businesses as a return on investment due to increased efficiency could be argued. This is less likely to be adopted by individual users. Social Factors There is increasing concern with the number of masts being erected which form the networks supporting the mobile phones. As the number of mobile phone users increase, and we move into 3G technology where a higher number of masts are required to support the technology; the public are becoming concerned of the impact masts are having upon their immediate environment. Although masts have reduced in height, this reduction has been accompanied with need for them to be closer to the user. It is necessary to be sympathetic to these concerns and where possible disguising the masts will show an increased attention to the public. Public users have a desire to request information and receive this immediately, this has become a priority in todays fast moving society. This means people have less patience to wait for the information desired and this is reflected in the culture of mobile phone use. 3G has the capability to transfer desired information that is up to date, directly to the handset being used Technological Factors The increasing capability of electronics in continually smaller packages enables additional technology to be included with limited affect on the size of the product. This has had a great impact on the capability of mobile phones. With ability to gain remote access to the internet it is possible to bring the internet information direct to a mobile phone user. Development of 3G technology is expensive and time consuming Forces Driving Industry Competition POTENTIAL ENTRANTS Threat of new Entrants A new company beginning to supply third generation mobile phones would have serious market considerations. A high level of capital would be required for investment in the mobile phone product. The technology development would need to be supported as well as marketing expenditure to make consumers aware. A new entrant at this stage would be an extreme distance behind in development, and therefore product launch would be delayed. A new brand would not carry the same reputations and confidence other companies have established whilst developing products over the past 10 years. This is felt an important commodity in todays highly technical mobile communications market. SUPPLIERS Industry relies heavily on the development and performance of electronic components for a variety of technological products. Many manufacturers have the expertise and experience to produce the components for the mobile phones. The bargaining power of suppliers is not strong however it is common that the company will have preferred manufacturers through previous projects and reputation. The industry is an important and rewarding industry for the component manufacturers due to the popularity of the final product (mobile phones). As a large number of phones will be produced this enables high value contracts for the supply of reliable components. Further to component suppliers are the tariff operators the phone will eventually operate in conjunction with. At present there are five major tariff operators expected to support the 3G mobile phone. Although it is necessary to continue good relationships these companies do not have strong bargaining power. Their future 3G business somewhat relies on supporting mobile phones the public desire, as Nokia 3G will be the first launched tariff operators are not expected to be in a strong bargaining position. SUBSTITUTES Landline The use of a landline is cheaper and in some cases clearer and BT have a begun to provide more public telephones specialising in cheap rate local calls to other landlines. Maybe a change in calling trends could be created however no additional threat to the trend of owning a mobile phone is expected from this development. Email With access to a mailing service Email is efficient and in common use. However this does not have the same convenience as a mobile phone. In addition the 3G mobile phone will enable mobile internet connection whereas an installed terminal has to be used at present Overall the trend for owning a mobile phone is not going to be affected by the outlined substitutes. It is possible the usage of these phones could be affected however this will not prevent purchases of the product. BUYERS The buyer population is strong and mobile phones are a desired commodity. As the attitude has moved towards owning mobile phones a high proportion of the UK population now own a mobile phone, it is understood 70% of adult population own or use a mobile phone. Therefore there are few new people to come into the market place. With these factors the buyers have a lot of choice when purchasing a mobile phone that most suits their needs and taste. Any new mobile phone has severe competition from the market place. INDUSTRY COMPETITORS Nokias competitors are companies which are relatively equivalent in size, experience, financial backing and mostly with good reputations. These companies siemens, ¡K ¡K ¡K ¡K. are also expected to be launching 3G mobile phones towards the end of 2003 and during 2004 creating intense rivalry in the market place. As the mobile phone market is close to reaching saturation point industry growth has slowed considerably. The 3G mobile phone is a specialist and top of the range device; however this is still an addition to the mobile phone market. All of these points build a strong rivalry within the market place. Objectives and Issues Nokias business objective is to strengthen the position of leading systems and products provider. The strategic intent, as the trusted brand, is to create personalized communication technology that enables people to shape their own mobile world. Technological innovation allows people to access Internet applications, devices and services instantly, irrespective of time and place. Achieving interoperability of network environments, terminals and mobile services is a key part of Nokias objective. Nokia must capitalize on the leadership role by continuing to target and enter segments of the communications market that will experience rapid growth or grow faster than the industry as a whole. By expanding into these segments during the initial stages of the development process, Nokia has been established as one of the worlds leading players in wireless communications and significantly influenced the way in which voice and other services have been transferred to a wireless, mobile environment. As demand for wireless access to an increasing range of services accelerates, plans to lead the development and commercialisation of the higher capacity networks and systems are required to make wireless content more accessible and rewarding to the end user. In the process, Nokia plan to offer their customers unprecedented choice, speed and value. Nokia has a history of contributing to the development of new technologies, products and systems for mobile communications. To achieve Nokias business objective, strategy focuses on being the preferred provider of solutions for mobile communications; creating personalized communication technology; driving open mobile architecture enabling a non-fragmented global mobile services market; strengthening and leveraging Nokia, the trusted brand; and expanding the business and market position on a global basis. Nokias aim is to gain the position of preferred provider of products and solutions for mobile communications by providing leading communications networks that enable end-to-end service delivery for both cellular and broadband networks. This includes the development of leading high-capacity cellular networks, platforms and user applications for the mobile Internet, end-to-end broadband access solutions and Professional Mobile Radio systems. Nokia must build on the core competencies in various key areas, including design and product innovations, brand development, and effective demand/supply network management, to bring new product concepts and associated services to market. And to strengthen the leadership position by using the understanding of user needs and the ability to meet and exceed user expectations to provide user-friendly, highly functional personalized products and solutions. Nokia continue to employ open standards in technology in order to promote open competition and interoperability. The key commitment is to create a global and open mobile software and services market, and aim to do this by achieving strong partnering with customers, suppliers and industry participants, and solid focus on end-to-end solutions in all the development activities. By driving open mobile architecture, the aim is to ensure the introduction of new, interoperable mobile Internet access and visual content downloading services worldwide, utilizing the GSM/GPRS evolution and coming 3G mobile communications networks adopting WCDMA technology. This is expected to boost innovation from independent software producers as well as provide consumers with a wide and varied selection of competitive, yet interoperable products and services. Strengthening the Brand According to a variety of consumer surveys, the Nokia brand is associated with well-designed, high quality and technologically advanced products and customer services that are also user-friendly. Considerable investments in establishing the Nokia name as the leading brand in mobile communication intends to sustain and enhance the Nokia brand through aggressive advertising, sponsorship and other marketing activities in all of the principal markets. Nokia believe that the leading market position provides significant opportunities to better understand and respond to the usage patterns of end users, and thus enhance the Nokia brand. Expanding Our Business For more than a decade, Nokia have actively expanded the business globally, and as a result, the network systems, equipment and wireless terminals produced are sold throughout the world. Benefits from strong economies of scale throughout the organization are apparent. The Nokia strategy is to continue the focused pursuit of global business opportunities by cultivating a strong local presence in all growing markets and pursuing partnering and acquisition opportunities in order to obtain complementary technologies and market positions. One of Nokias top priorities is to continue to strengthen their leading market position in a profitable way, believing that further market share gains are key to expanding their customer base and growing their future business potential. The leading position also enhances the positive effects of economies of scale, which should strengthen the competitive position in the next generation of mobile communications. Promotion The promotion mix elements are: This area of the marketing mix is the most dependent on an accurate vision of who the target market/markets are. An awful lot of Nokias resources could be unduly wasted promoting to the wrong market. Also a good promotional mix required in order to meet Nokias marketing objectives. These would be to inform sell to as many people, the new range of phones by Nokia. Advertising As the price of the product will initially be comparatively high, this has to be reflected in the advertising campaign. This firstly involves choosing the right media. e.g. Broadsheet newspapers, mens magazines (i.e. FHM, Loaded, Mens Health) television and billboard advertisements. These will be aimed at the high earning business person who will most probably use the product for work just as much as personal use. The fact that these phones claim to introduce quick, real time video conferencing is a selling point which must be stressed. The initial adverts will be far more informative than persuasive. The vast majority of people will not be aware of the capability of these new products. Once the informative period is over, the prices drop and the market becomes less narrow, the advertising shall be far more persuasive aggressive. The advertising will change throughout the different periods of the product life cycle. Personal Selling The only form of personal selling that Nokia themselves will have to do is persuading the Wholesaler/Retailer to take on a large amount of there new products. However, Nokia are going to have to educate staff from the retail outlets on the features of these new products. These are the personnel who have most direct contact with the end user/ consumer. Ultimately, these are the people selling your product along with their own objectives. Offering special training schemes and fringe benefits to these personnel will be worth doing as these are the people that Nokia want on there side working as efficiently as possible. Direct Marketing Direct Marketing undertaken by Nokia at the beginning of the 3G products life cycle is not really appropriate for this kind of product. It would ultimately send out the wrong message to the consumer. However, when the market becomes saturated and market forces push the price of these products is pushed out of the prestige range and the product is possibly being given away with contracts, then direct marketing could be very effective. Such techniques as direct mail, internet spam and cold calling may be appropriate.