First‐mover advantages have been shown to exist in many industries and for many goods. Typically, market share is used as the key indicator for the extent of first‐mover advantages. For complex goods where a base product is purchased once and follow‐on purchases are made continuously, the share of existing users may not be the most appropriate measure of success and therefore first‐mover advantage. We study the global mobile telecommunications market to show that first‐mover advantages differ depending on the performance measure used (the number of users or average usage intensity) and on the definition of a first mover (previous‐generation incumbent or early entrant). Further, we find that in this market first‐mover advantages are stable over time.