2008 Woodie Awards
Cell phones older than most college students
Daniel Bell
Issue date: 9/8/04 Section: News
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Most probably remember thinking how cool having a phone that could go anywhere would be.
Well, now those early 90s dreams of portable communication are realized. Almost every student has a cell phone. It is not unusual to see dozens of people chatting away while making their way between classes.
For many, cell phones are the only phones: as more and more people are leaving the "home phone" in the past.
In addition to making calls from everywhere, cell phones now allow users to send email, text messages, surf the web, play games, take pictures, record videos (and send it to other cell phones) and download lots of extra tones, pictures, etc.
If Zack Morris was so cool, why couldn't his cell phone record and send a video of Kelly Kapowski doing a split during cheerleading practice? Zack couldn't even fit his phone in his pocket.
What most students probably do not know is the first cell phone call was placed more than 31 years ago on April 3, 1973.
This call was made by Martin Cooper (now chairman, CEO and co-founder of ArrayComm Inc.) while he was general manager of Motorola's Communications Systems Division.
It was Cooper's vision, of personal wireless communication, that led to the creation of the modern-day cell phone.
Who was on the receiving end of this historic first call? None other than Cooper's cross-town rival at AT&T-Bell Labs.
Cooper once explained, "As I walked down the street while talking on the phone, sophisticated New Yorkers gaped at the sight of someone actually moving around while making a phone call. Remember that in 1973 there were no cordless telephones, let alone cellular phones. I made numerous calls, including one where I crossed the street while talking to a New York radio reporter-probably one of the more dangerous things I have ever done in my life."
The first public demonstration of a cellular phone was with a 30-ounce device. About 10 years later, Motorola introduced the 16-ounce DynaTac, which cost consumers a jaw-dropping $3,500.
According to about.com, today there are more cell phone subscribers than wireline phone subscribers, and the average cell phone today weighs only a dainty 3 ounces.