What could a carpenter in Nigeria, a mid-level manager in Frankfurt and a fashionable teenager in London possibly have in common? One thing: They are all consumers who Ericsson's customers need to accommodate. You can meet them at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February 11-14.

February 8, 2008
The power shift in the telecom industry is clear. The market has gone from being governed by technology to being more driven by consumer ideals.

In this era, consumer segmentation is vital to success.

So, meet digital native Jessica, careerist Tom and empowered phoner Mosi, three fictional characters with completely different lives - but all born from Ericsson's "Global Consumer Segmentation Model."

"Ericsson has a unique consumer segmentation function and a strong focus on consumer knowledge," says Annikki Schaeferdiek, Vice President, Marketing & Strategy at Ericsson. "By presenting these three personas in Barcelona, and the services that matter to each of them, we want to show Ericsson's complete portfolio and its focus on consumer behavior."

Digital native Jessica is the hip teenager. She lives in London and has 223 friends online but, she says, "Kaz and Maria are my best friends." She goes to school with Maria but Kaz lives in China. As soon as Jessica wakes up, she checks her phone to find out who is online. She loves music and uses mobile music services such as Napster Mobile. She also uses her phone to vote for her favorite artist, Wei Wei, during award shows on TV and to see what is trendy.

Mosi, the empowered mobile user, is a village carpenter in Nigeria who used to be completely dependent on word-of-mouth to survive.

His biggest challenge was the great distances between villages and to the timber dealer, and he often arrived at the dealer's only to discover there was no stock left. His life changed when he got his mobile phone. Now he rings the timber dealer before leaving, people call him with job requests and he makes payments by text message.

In Frankfurt, Germany, careerist Tom says it's crucial for him to be permanently reachable for work. "I'm in the office whenever I choose to be," he says. Tom works for a printing company. Starting his work day at the breakfast table, he uses his phone to check his e-mail, his calendar and whether or not his favorite football team, Barcelona, is playing that day.

He prefers seeing clients to internal meetings, so he uses his phone to check the agenda for office meetings, and sometimes takes part by using a video conference service. Wherever he is, he can use his laptop to connect to the internet. This way, Tom can spend more time with his family.

But these three characters only represent a cross-section of different end-users. Schaeferdiek says that they represent a complex, global market in which Ericsson is the leading player.

"Our segmentation model is of course much more complex.  We need to understand the needs of end-users regardless of where in the world they live and what they do. I think Jessica, Mosi and Tom demonstrate just that in a beautiful way."