Enterprise Mobility Born Twenty-Five Years Ago

In the 1980s, McKinsey & Co forecast a world maket of 900,000 phones by the year 2000. Today, 900,000 handsets are sold every three days. Image Credit: The Next Web

Enterprise Mobility Born Twenty-Five Years Ago

It's hard to imagine but yesterday, Oct. 13, 2008 marked the 25th anniversary of the first commercial cellphone. Today, more than three billion people worldwide use cellphones, making them the most popular personal electronic device ever.

The Brick Cell Phone. The first cell phone that most of us remember. Image Credit: Motorola

The first cell phone that most of us remember is the one that’s now called “the block” or “the brick”. The name comes from the fact that it was about the shape and size of a traditional brick. It wasn’t quite as heavy as a brick, of course, although it might feel like it today to those of us that are used to using the thinnest and lightest cell phones available on the market.

These were the phones that were available to people in the 1980’s, the phones that were based on the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X design.

Martin Cooper and the First Cell Phone. You might not recognize Martin Cooper’s name but you’ve probably seen his picture because he was photographed excessively when he made the first call on the world’s first cell phone back in 1973. The phone call was placed to a rival working at Bell who was also attempting to make a mobile phone. It happened on the streets of New York City and people were apparently struck dumb by the site. It’s funny to think about today since you’d be hard pressed to find someone walking New York City’s streets today without a cell phone in their hand or pocket. This phone may be clunky and impossible to use today but it’s the one that set the stage for all that came after it. Image Credit: dialaphone.co.uk

This excerpted and edited from the Technology Expert –

The Cell Phone Celebrates 25 Years
Technology Expert - Tuesday, October 14, 2008

When I watched an old 1988 thriller, "Miracle Mile," one of the things that struck me was the huge cellular phone used by Denise Crosby. And even that handset was five years newer than the phone used in the first commercial cellular phone call.

That call was made on October 13th, 1983, 25 years ago. Bob Barnett, president of Ameritech Mobile communications, called Alexander Graham Bell's nephew [Martin Cooper] from Chicago's Soldier Field using a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X handset.

That baby was known as the "Brick," based on its heft (2.5 pounds) and shape. 8 hours of standby time and 30 minutes of talk time (woo hoo!). Service plans were a bit pricey, at costing $50 a month for the service, plus 40 cents a minute at peak hours and 24 cents a minute at off-peak times.

Nope, there were no unlimited plans.
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