I was in a strange conversation today. Someone was asking about UK broadband opportunities and I told them it's a blood bath. It really is horrific with free broadband offers appearing (if anything is ever truly free). So why are my business partners and I are so keen on broadband in Eastern Europe. Broadband is broadband right?
Well, the difference is the adoption curve. You probably know this already but there is a profile of sales over time that starts to build slowly, then accelerates before flattening out again. This s-curve is seen in many industries. Sometimes your product or service can re-juvenate itself by finding a new niche or set of users and a second s-curve builds on your original one. Tricky but good if you can do it.
In broadband, we can see in the UK that we have achieved near saturation and companies are being forced to givie it away 'free'. However, countries in Eastern Europe have very low penetration and so are only at the start of the s-curve explosion.
This doesn't make it easy but it does mean that you can learn from what has happened in other countries and use strategies that have worked.
Yes there are factors such as Gross Domestic Product that will determine exact timing but you can look at other technologies that have also migrated and succeeded in these newer markets.
The result with broadband is that you end up doing new things in Western European broadband (niche wireless etc.) but do the old things in the new markets of Eastern Europe.
Not rocket science but it can be interesting to look for analagous products and services that can teach you how to compete in your market.
Who else has done it?
Where has it been done first?
As another example, this was written on my Smartphone and sent via GPRS. What will people be doing next like this? If I want to know I'd look at the leading mobile markets in the Far East (or speak to a friend of mine Ajit Jaokar who is a bit of an expert in these matters).
Innovation may actually be 90% perspiration, 10% inspiration and 50% learning from other markets and competitors. Luckily it doesn’t require good maths skills 
