Steve LeVine sent me a link to his slides from the Kaiser / Nokia panel at the Medical Record Institute's m-Health conference.

Dr. Steve LeVine is a rising star with dual roles at Kaiser Permanente as both a practicing Emergency Room physician and with information technology, in particular mobile technology (handhelds, wireless, situational patient care, mobile workflow, etc.). He's one of these very rare and exceptional people who are both visionary and intensely practical at the same time, and I'm glad having the opportunity to work with him on a number of very interesting initiatives at Kaiser. He's also one of the most tenacious people I've ever met. I've learned a ton from him, and I'm looking forward to continuing to do so.

Welcome, Steve, to to blogosphere! I'm looking forward to reading your insights!

The relationship between handset makers and operators of cellular networks seems to come straight out of Christensen's second book (The Innovator's Solution). CTIA today quotes Dow Jones Newswire:

Wireless Service Providers and Manufacturers Alter Power Balance

In late summer 2003, Vodafone gave an ultimatum to 10 of the world's largest wireless phone manufacturers and required them to comply with its thousands of technical and design requirements, otherwise Vodafone refused to purchase from the companies complied altering the balance of power in the billion wireless phone business and giving service providers control over the look and feel of wireless phones. (Source: Dow Jones Newswire)

I've been thinking about this relationship for a while, and where the power is going to go, and if the above is any guide, I got it right: The operators have far more control over scarce resources (coverage) than the handset makers (the electronics content of a phone is increasingly generic for most of the market). So what is happening is a modularization in one market and a re-integration (operator-specific handsets) in an adjacent market, shifting the balance of power -- and maybe profits?