If you’re at least a little bit of a technophile, you’ve probably wondered how many people use this technology or that. I have, but have also been hardly ever satisfied with the numbers I received in return, since I’m aware that great majority of market share information isn’t much more than a guess based on someone’s speculation. Anyway, not something I’d call trustworthy.

Which is why I was pleasantly surprised to read about the research carried out by Antero Kivi of the Helsinki University of Technology in which he reveals what kind of mobile phones Finns use. What made me follow through the text is that he did not base his research on merely interviewing a representative sample of consumers (which is how the popular vote researches are usually done). Antero got the data straight from the horse’s mouth: the mobile operators.

He asked three largest Finnish mobile operators Sonera, Elisa and DNA about the usage of mobile phones on their networks. Naturally, the operators know exactly who is using their networks. Besides plethora of information an operator collects about each call they carry, operators also get to know the maker and model of the phone for every single phone call made on their network. This information is revealed by a unique IMEI code which the phone uses to introduces itself to the network. In other words, Antero got access to a treasure trove of information.

And the results? If you know at least a little bit about Finland, the results won’t come as a surprise. Finnish manufacturer of mobile phones Nokia leads the pack. Although merely saying that Nokia leads the pack is really glossing over the nation’s loyalty to Nokia. Of all the mobile phone makers, Nokia’s phones aren’t only taking all the top ten or top twenty spots. The first non-Nokia mobile phone maker got no higher than 57th place. Which translates Nokia’s position in terms of market share percentage into unbelievable 86%. In this incredibly competitive branch of consumer electronics industry such a market share is truly enviable in any single market. (Which makes me wonder what is Ericsson’s true market share in Sweden.)

Another interesting piece of information this research reveals is that of all the smart phones Nokia makes, the first four most commonly used (which adds up to 16,4% of all phones in Finland) are the cheapest and consequently the least smart (if you believe that being able to surf the Web already makes anything smart). The four most used phones are thus models 3310, 1100, 1600 and 3510i. On these phones you can’t do much more than make a phone call or send a text message. So a tad bit more than what your landline can do, although from a device you carry in your pocket.

Taking a step back, Nokia’s popularity in Finland is not even that surprising. The company importantly contributed to the ongoing Finnish economic uplift since the mid-1990s, to say the least. And Finns are openly proud of both. Putting this statement to a test is a real no-brainer; all you have to do is mention to a Finn Japan and Nokia in the same sentence. You won’t be able to stop them going on at length about everything from linguistic to cultural similarities between the two, which contribute to this terrible misunderstanding, not to mention the litanies you’ll hear about the injustice and desperate helplessness of trying to tell the world that Nokia is, for goodness sake, a Finnish brand. Oh my.

Mladen

Currently super popular pop duo The Ting Tings played in Helsinki a couple of days ago. I’m not a fan of pop, but it was nevertheless interesting to see a relatively freshly baked band live on stage.

They definitely put together a very energetic stage act. I mean, even their roadie probably had to go through an audition. He was constantly burning rubber as he erratically darted around the Tings untangling cables and setting the mic stands with great haste. He had put together a mini show of his own. It seemed they were all on speed or something. Impressive, man.

All that was just fine, but boy do I hate it when bands run out of tracks and then start repeating what they had already played that very same night. The last time that happened was some 15 years ago when for reasons unknown to me I ended up on the Spin Doctors concert (must have been paid to see it or something). Same here, The Ting Tings miss even shrugged her shoulders as she admitted they had run out of tracks after only 35 minutes and had to replay a number.

But check out their support act, the retro-electro nerd Moby Dictator. Seriously, when was the last time you’ve seen an electro artist perform on stage without a laptop, or two?

Mladen