Summary and Conclusion

This last chapter provides the overall summary and conclusion of this book. This chapter explains why and how each chapter is included and inter-related. In addition, the limitations and contributions of this book are explained.

Beyond the 3G (Third Generation) of Mobile Communications Technology Standards

How the decade-long unfolding of 3G is being morphed into the convergence of communications and computing is described. With this new technology direction, actors in both the mobile and computing industries have started fighting to define the next generation mobile standard.

The 3G (Third Generation) of Mobile Communications Technology Standards

Through the 1G and 2G mobile communications technology standardizations, the involved actors became smarter and were able to develop more sophisticated strategies. For the GSM camp, moving the whole GSM market to its favorable technology standard to control and dominate the market for the next generation mobile communications technology was extremely significant. In this situation, what could the actors in the GSM camp do? What could the CDMA camp and other actors who did not belong to either camp (actors in Japan and China) do? This chapter answers all these questions.

Background of the Mobile Communications Industry

Before we dive into how the mobile communications industry has developed, it is important to understand the general background of this industry. In this chapter, the background of the mobile communications industry is explained including historical and technological conditions and major actor groups as a foundation to approach the cases that are presented in chapter 5, 6, 7, and 8.

The 1G (First Generation) Mobile Communications Technology Standards

During the development of the first generation (1G) mobile communications technologies, many organizations had not thought about standardizing a mobile communications technology. Due to the fact that a mobile communications market was regional and a network was run by a government agency or a monopoly organization, the standardization of a mobile communications technology was not occur to them. However, an interesting movement came from Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden), which was standardizing a mobile communications technology. This chapter reveals the standardizations of the first generation (1G) mobile communications technologies including the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) standard and the impact of the NMT standard on the history of the mobile communications technology standards.

Background of Standards Strategy

First, the literature of research on standards is reviewed, and an overview of the definitions and classifications of standards is provided. Then particular aspects of the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) industry as related to standardization are reviewed. Finally, standards strategies in the ICT industry are examined by critically reviewing the existing literature and identifying important areas that need further investigation.

The 2G (Second Generation) Mobile Communications Technology Standards

Based on the experience of the NMT standardization, some actors that had been involved in the NMT standardization (e.g., Ericsson) heavily participated in the standardization of a 2G mobile communications technology. They were successfully able to standardize the technology they pursued as the European mobile telecommunications technology standard. Considering all these European actors’ early efforts, it was not a surprise that the GSM standard (the European 2G mobile communications technology standard) expanded its territory. The surprise came from the evolution of CDMA. How could the late entrant, Qualcomm, be able to create and expand the CDMA market? This chapter reveals not only fiery competitions among actors to standardize GSM and CDMA but also conflicts between GSM and CDMA camps as a group.

Developing a Theoretical Model

Much of the literature on standards strategy focuses on classifying the various observed strategies. However, what is not clearly evident from the literature is an account of why and how organizations choose their strategies. By what logic does any company decide how to promote the necessary economic factors to spread its technology, how to create a value network built upon that technology, whether to work with collaborators or go it alone, and whether to close or open IPR? What influences these decisions? What mix of elements in a company’s situation will prompt it to make one choice rather than another? To go beyond a mere listing or categorization of the types of standards strategies, but try to understand why and how organizations choose certain strategies, a theoretical model to analyze the organizational process for deciding upon standards strategy is needed. In this chapter, by reviewing existing theories that researchers have used in the literature on standard-setting processes, a theoretical model for the purpose of this study is proposed.

Preface to the Research on Standards in the Mobile Communications Industry

In this chapter, the Self-Organized Complexity Unfolding Model and the Framework of Organizational Standards Strategy are applied and explored further to the evolution of standards in the mobile communications industry. To introduce the mobile communications industry, three different infrastructures that presently exist at the beginning of the 21st century for communication over long distances are discussed. The reason to present them is to illustrate the position of the mobile communications industry in our society and how it is related to other industries.