European Mobile Crisis reaches a critical phase.

There was Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens, Alcatel, Philips. In mobility, Europe led the way. They set the standards. Literally. The had the users.

And then there were none.

If the future of computing is in mobile devices, Europe has a void. But fear not. The hardware business was already on a downward spiral. Now to encourage to latest and greatest in mobile software and services. The best in mobile health and well-being. Small is the new big.

The next best thing to being there? BEAMING there? Is this the future of telecoms? Maybe some day.

BEAMING PROJECT WEBSITE >>

NEWS SOURCE >>

Beaming. This ambitious European Commision-funded project is looking to add a physical dimension to telepresence services by choosing from a smorgasbord of trendy technology topics including neuro-interfaces, avatars, haptics, 3D scanning & input, and robotics.

This advanced telepresence project could lead to a leap in what remote workers and educators could achieve, and in the long run trickle down to consumer services.

Contemporary professional videoconferencing systems like those from Tandberg have come a long, long way in usability and enjoyability. Here's a vision of what's to come:

Death by a thousand cuts. The European mobile crisis deepens with Sony Mobile's departure.

Fierce Wireless story >>


And then there was one...

Not a great start for the end of summer: last week Sony announced that it would be cutting 1000 jobs from its Sony Mobile unit and moving Sony Mobile's headquarters from Lund, Sweden to Tokyo. While Sony Mobile will continue to have a large presence in Lund, this downward spiral is making a large sucking sound.

This is certainly sad news for the many who will be losing their jobs. And very sad news for the continent that was once the center of the mobile world. There was a time when most key mobile developments such as standardization, design, and even advanced manufacturing took place in Europe first. Companies such as Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens, Alcatel, and Philips led the way.

But like the Ten Little Indians, these leaders disappeared one by one along the way. Some were careless, some were unlucky. But in the end, they were all gone.

The "East-West" trend continuing. Most hardware development has gone East. Most software and services development has gone West. And in the middle, nothing but a big, ugly hole in the ground remains.

This gap will hurt for years to come. The mobile business is still a baby in many ways, and the European economies stand to lose out in the coming decades. The real advancements the industry has been talking about for the past 10 years is only starting to materialize now. There's NFC and mobile payment. There's mobile healthcare and well-being.

There are exceptions and there is hope. Ericsson and Nokia Siemens are still top players in the mobile infrastructure market. Spotify and Skype (now owned by Microsoft) are great examples of top services coming out of Europe. And there are many small, interesting startups.

The good news is that shifts happen both ways and there is plenty of room for everybody. There are large pools of mobile talent in many European hotspots, and many innovative mind.

European leaders would be wise to get mobile again, or risk simply watching the game from the stands.

Sony Mobile's current HQ in Lund, Sweden. Is the sun setting on mobile Europe?

All Creatures Great and Small. Euro Mobile crisis deepens as Apple's selected as European nano SIM standard.

ARSTECHNICA STORY >>

How the mobile tide has turned: The European Telecommunications Standards Institute accepts Apple's proposal for the next-gen SIM card.

Only a decade ago, Europe lead the world in wireless. As Americans struggled with texting and Asian markets such as Japan were a bit too proprietary, Europe led the way in mainstream mobile developments. European vendors of all things mobile had more than their share of influence in wireless standardization efforts. ETSI had standardized GSM which had been adopted in most markets around the globe. Times were good.

But one of the key trends we've seen over the past five years is the transfer of mobile power to the New World: U.S.-based companies are leading the way in creating user experiences. And, an achievement that's more amazing than it's given credit for, the American audience has leap-frogged most other developed markets to become one of the most upwardly mobile in the world. When it comes to smartphone penetration, mobile broadband, texting, VoIP usage, America has gone from the Bronze Age to the Space Age in half a decade.

So, this past Friday, The European Telecommunications Standards Institute chose Apple's proposal for the new SIM card standard, or the "fourth form factor" SIM, with the street name Nano SIMs. Nano-SIM cards will be 40% smaller than micro-SIM cards, providing more device real estate for other components.

For anyone following the history of mobile developments closely, the contrasts between decades is striking. For a while I was literally counting standardization proposals as part of my job: companies such as Nokia, Ericsson, and Siemens were the most valuable players at the time. To be fair, Cisco and Qualcomm were also extremely influential, but Europe had a lot to be proud of.

These are new times though. Europe now has to play a game of catch-up. Perhaps European vendors flew too close to the sun. It will take a lot of Angry Birds to fly that high again.

SIM card generations 2, 3, and maybe 4:

Tongue in cheek: Rovio reaches new heights as it grows by leaps and bounds. Don’t try boxing them in. This is for real.

O Rovio, Rovio! wherefore art thou Rovio?

Where art they? Where art they not? They art u-beak-uitous.

No, Helsinki has no fury like a she-bird scorned.

So, how about those Angry Birds -- they are breaking out, and breaking free. There’s no holding them down now. It looks like the sky’s the limit for Finland-based Rovio.

It’s an amazing success story of a company that found the ability to fly high because they refused to be boxed in. They aren’t just a game maker: Rovio has created a parallel world of crime and punishment. A world full of bitter-sweet revenge. They catapulted themselves onto the world stage by challenging the audience with beautiful simplicity. We can all learn something from Rovio.

So, here’s to the smashing success that is Rovio. It must be music to their ears. Let the party begin... and roll the tape:

Rovio is reaching new levels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzIBZQkj6SY

Europe to bleed more mobile? If Ericsson gets out of handsets, there will be one major vendor left.

Then there was one.

The other day I wrote of Europe's growing mobile crisis. (See: European debt crisis? What about the growing European mobile crisis?)

On the other hand, Two of the largest infra vendors are European (Ericsson, NSN). Best of luck.

European debt crisis? What about the growing European mobile crisis?

Don't get even, get angry (birds). And lots of them.

On September 29, Nokia announced the planned closure of their handset factory in Cluj, Romania. Manufacturing would be moved to other Nokia plants, especially those in China. To me this site closure was the exclamation mark on the de-Europeanization of the mobile industry. It's headed West. It's headed East. But it's not staying in the middle.

Back in the GSM heyday, in the mid-'90s, Europe became the center of the mobile world. Countries such as Sweden and Finland would brag of mobile penetration rates of greater than 25%, then 50% of the population.

And development happened on the Continent. Handset vendors and component suppliers of all sorts would gather in cities in France and the Netherlands, and other reasonably nice places across Europe to work on and influence wireless standardization, and mingle with the big European vendors and operators. There was Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens, Philips, Alcatel. There was ETSI and GSM. Those were glorious days for Europe. It was the center of the new mobile world as Europeans looked with pity and scorn at the U.S., a country with networks that could barely handle text messaging at the time. The U.S was in the the mobile dark ages.

I always liked to say, when it comes to mobile trends, Japanese teenagers do it first. But it truly happens big in Europe.

Now welcome to the new mobile century. Let's look at where things stand now:

All major smartphone platforms are from the U.S. (iOS, Android, WP). Symbian has thrown its hands up in defeat. (We could debate about RIM/QNX, Bada, here as well.)

Approximately 95% of handset industry profits are earned by vendors outside of Europe (using Q2 2011 numbers).

More than 80% of industry revenues are generated by non-European vendors. (I include half of Sony Ericsson's revenues in my calculations.)

Only 1.5 of the world's top-ten vendors are European (Nokia and Sony Ericsson.)

Standardization efforts are shifting to organizations such as W3C and IETF, as services take center stage.

About 95% of all handsets are manufactured outside of Europe.

European consumers upgrade their handsets at a slower pace than consumers in the U.S. and most key Asian countries.

America has become the center of mobile software and services. There's Android, there's iOS, there's Windows Phone and Facebook and Google and Foursquare. And not only does Asia have key handset vendors such as Samsung, HTC, LG, they also have the world's largest mobile manufacturing based out of China. There's Foxconn (a Taiwan-based company). There's Compal (a Taiwan-based company).

To be fair and clear, there certainly are fantastic on-going European success stories: ARM comes to mind. [I could also add Opera, Spotify, and Skype here.] And Nokia is still the world's largest handset maker in pure volume terms. And of course there's Finland-based Rovio, the maker of "Angry Birds."

But it will take a lot of angry birds to make up for lost opportunities. It seems that mobile development has flown the coop.

Is the sun setting on mobile Europe?