1. Market and players

The cell phone is a technological object, an object whose use has become highly democratized and whose capabilities have soared in recent years. Initially, cell phones were used for mobile phone calls. The cell phone sales model in Europe in the 2000s was based on telephone operators. They subsidized the manufacture of the phones, and were the main resellers. This privileged relationship between phone manufacturers and telephone operators enabled the latter to obtain specific phones, promoting their brand and gradually their specific services: gaming applications, after-sales services, or information services such as weather and stock market information. Then, as cell phone users became accustomed to well-known brands (Nokia, Blackberry...), the balance of power gradually evened out between telephone operators and phone manufacturers.

In the meantime, the technology...