In an address at the official opening of CeBIT, Jorma Ollila, Chairman and CEO of Nokia, expressed long-term optimism in the future of mobile communications, citing mobility as the next global mega-trend impacting all industries. CeBIT is the world's largest IT and telecommunications fair held annually in Hanover, Germany.
CeBIT is according to Ollila a clear example of the importance of mobility. What was once a show devoted to computers and software is today a global display of technologies, where all products and services also have a dimension of mobility.
"The impact of mobility is shaping all areas of IT, media and consumer industries," said Ollila. "The mobile market is already expanding into new areas of games, entertainment, media and the enterprise market, with compelling new mobile services laying the groundwork for the build-out of wireless multimedia networks."
New mobile services include multimedia messages combining images, text, audio and video. Multimedia messaging services have already been launched by over 110 major mobile network operators, with applications ranging from person-to-person communication to the sending and receiving of rich content.
With the overall global mobile phone penetration rate now just over 18%, Ollila indicated clear upside in terms of global mobile subscriber growth. The combined effects of the new wave of compelling mobile applications and services and more traditional growth in emerging markets is expected to drive subscriber growth, almost doubling the number of mobile subscribers to 2 billion by the end of this decade.
"Our industry is certainly not standing still, we are investing in the future," said Ollila, stressing innovation as vital for economic growth and renewal in Europe. At the same time, he expressed concern that while companies continue to plan increases in R&D investments, they are mainly doing so outside Europe, particularly in Asia and the US.
Experience shows that innovative firms grow faster, have higher productivity gains and create more jobs than companies on average. In a knowledge-based economy, research and development is the main source of innovation. Nokia last year invested 10.2% of net sales - more than EUR 3 billion - into developing existing and new products and technologies.
"In Europe, we cannot restore competitiveness if we don't implement the necessary reforms," said Ollila. Encouraging innovation is fundamental in driving competitiveness and putting Europe back on a growth track."
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