That will go on for many years to come, fueling Nokia's growth. Imagine the near future, when the Greek cell phone phenomenon spreads throughout the much larger nations of the Middle East and Asia. Standing in the streets of Athens, I knew that Wall Street was trashing the telecom stocks at that moment in October mostly out of misguided fears that the growth in global cellular phone sales might be slowing down. Those analysts should get out of their offices, out of the closed circuit of data, which they love to read, and see the real world, as I do. I saw the truth about cell phones with my own eyes seeing the same thing in Venice, Dubrovnik, Istanbul and Athens last October.
Cell phones are a growth industry.
Down in the Caribbean, the Greek cell phone phenomenon is being duplicated. After the Haitian government allowed even encouraged a private cell phone company to do business, cell phone use took off. In a country where almost nothing works, the Haitian cell phone service not only works, but it is extremely popular. Cell phones are transforming Haiti for the better. A lagging U.S. competitor in this field, Motorola , recently predicted that there would be 525 million to 575 million cell phones sold this year.