If the 1990s looked to Silicon Valley for its inspiration, the early part of this century may well look to the technology-obsessed teenagers of Tokyo or the explosive energy of Shanghai's new entrepreneurs for inspiration instead. Despite the Asian economic crisis, the region retains huge advantages thanks in part to its strong tradition in manufacturing. This has played a large part in helping companies such as DoCoMo stay at the cutting edge of technology as close ties with key electronics manufacturers have allowed it to source scarce components, such as liquid crystal displays for new colour screens on mobile handsets. At the same time, mobile handsets are fast becoming a mass market commodity in much the same way as televisions and video recorders. Staying ahead in an industry where last month's phone is worth a fraction of next month's phone requires the sort of manufacturing techniques that Japanese and Korean consumer electronics companies have pioneered so well in other fields.
Telecommunications is a great leveller, too.
Few would have imagined that China would have become such a powerful force in the industry so quickly. But the explosion in mobile phone use is allowing it to leapfrog a whole generation of fixed communications infrastructure and desktop computers. Operators such as China Mobile and China Unicom may yet play a powerful role abroad too, although the huge potential market at home means they have less incentive to divert resources than other networks in the region. It is no surprise, therefore, that the two most aggressive regional operators both come from relatively smaller economies. SingTel put itself forward as a buyer through a consortium also backed by Rupert Murdoch's News International.