The role of innovation in services have not been considered as extensively as in manufacturing, even though services comprise the largest part of employment and output in developed economies. To demonstrate the nature of innovation in services we consider the competition and coexistence between fixed line and wireless telephony. In a service, such as telephony, we are able to see very clearly the effect of differences in social innovations that are put into place in different countries and/or regions. These social innovations take the form of adoption of standards, regulations and laws that govern the adoption, disposition, and rules of competition for the provision of the service--in this case telephony. Social innovations that are put in place encourage, enhance, limit or discourage the use of the technology. Non-technical decisions regarding the market and ownership structure, pricing, access to bandwidth, type of technologies allowed can encourage or hinder the development of one technology and undermine the viability of other technologies for certain applications or in the entire marketplace.