PC use is about 35 percent in Finland. But a full 67 percent of the population uses mobile phones versus only 28 percent in the United States. Such extraordinarily high penetration rates have turned the Nordic nation of 5 million into a virtual laboratory to experiment with the newest phones and services and the networks that allow them to function. If Finland seems an unlikely harbinger of the future, consider that Silicon Valley used to be best known for growing fruits and nuts, not semiconductors. As for Seattle, well, it used to boast more longshoremen than software millionaires.
Finnish teenagers are a major driving force behind the mobile-phone craze.
On buses and in the Helsinki train station, they can be seen yammering away on their Nokias or else punching out short text messages with their thumbs. For them, the phone is as important a personal statement as the latest pair of designer cargo pants is for American teens. In the realm of grown-ups, hundreds of thousands of Finns conduct personal banking from their handheld phones, order gifts of chocolate for friends, and even shop for apartments to rent. At least 200 different services are available. For American firms, the lesson is that they can expect an explosion in demand for their products and services if they can replicate the Finnish mobile experience.