d billing is treated in Chapter 5, Section 5.11. This chapter will instead concentrate on user segmentation and the needs and demands of the segments as an approach to improved user understanding. User services are in principle treated in Chapter 5, but there are some reasons to include this area in this chapter: Understanding Changing Telecommunications - Building a Successful Telecom Business In order not to lose continuity some rough matching between segments and services is included. It should, however, be borne in mind that forecast and reality seldom coincide because of the unpredictability of the user, and this kind of material should be seen as tools in facilitating the learning process more than (a non-existent) truth. The main merchandise for a user is services. A main goal for a service provider is to launch the right services to the right users (for example early adopters) at the right point in time. It could be exemplified by means of the MMS (multimedia messaging service). It is now (2003) time to make this service take off. A brief introduction on messaging services is therefore included in this chapter. 2.2 THE ROLE OF THE UNPREDICTABLE (?) END USER The strong position of the users of today is illustrated in Figure 2.3, which shows the relationship between the end user and (one) retailer/service provider/operator. In this section the word retailer will be used for the end-user counterpart. Figure 2.3 shows that a growing number of offered services will ultimately be carried by a shrinking number of networks. For example, more and more services will be IP based. Mobility offers added value and mobile (or at least wireless) accesses will conquer an increasing part of the overall number of calls (including data calls). The fact that users in Europe during 2002 sent more SMS (short message service) messages than e-mails supports this statement. Traditional Subscriber Network Services Today Networks Users Services Services Users Network Figure 2.3 Power of the user End-User Needs and Demands In additio