Ericsson realized that for the technology to succeed, there must be a critical mass of portable
devices using their newly developed short-range radio. Unless the technology was embraced
by a large number of other manufacturers, it would fail due to lack of support. In effect,
Ericsson had to create a global de facto standard—before any other standards developed.
The importance of establishing an industry-wide (and cross-industry) standard cannot be
overstated. In today’s consumer markets, products based on proprietary technologies rarely
succeed. Consumers prefer to buy products that are based on common, if not ubiquitous,
technologies. They don’t want to be stuck with an orphan that doesn’t work with similar
products that their neighbors may own. Thus, if Ericsson was the only company creating
products based on its own proprietary technology, they would inevitably lose in a marketplace
where all their competitors embraced a different-but-common technology.
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