History of Mobile Phone: Mobile phone or cell phone or cellular phone has become a part and parcel in today’s life.With massive usage of android and windows phones, mobile phones are not some devices to talk only, they have become a lot more.
It has been forecasted by an online statistics portal that the number of mobile phone user in the world will be 4.77 billion.
The current number is approximately 4.23 billion as per to the end of 2015. Let’s see how the history of mobile phone developed at this stage.
Radio Phone – Predecessor of Mobile Phone:
The idea of Cave Radio in 1908 is known to be the starting of the cellular phone. It was very much different from today’s mobile phone. 2 years after that Lars Magnus Ericsson put a telephone in his car.
But it was not a radio phone and required two wires and used National Phone Network. But it was the first portably used phone.
First class passengers of contemporary European trains were facilitated with radio phone. But it was limited from Berlin to Hamburg, Germany.
At the same time, airplane passengers also could use a radio phone in case of an emergency. During the Second World War, these radio phones came to be used by the German soldiers to communicate on the battlefield.
First Mobile Phone:
Mobile Phone, that we know today, was first introduced by Dr. Martin Cooper from Motorola, a well-known and top branded mobile phone company.
But, Motorola was not huge at that time. It was a start-up and the development of this first wireless cellular phone changed the scenario.
The first mobile phone was named Dyna-TAC-8000X. But the fun part is that phone didn’t have any display. It was the first handheld mobile or cellular phone.
Anyway, on April 3, 1973, Dr. Cooper called his professional rival Dr. Joels Engel from Bell Labs.
On the same date, the phone was displayed and Motorola printed a 3-page publication-script.
On the script, Motorola described the mobile phone as –
‘’This is a hand-held and completely portable phone which enables its user to give and receive calls within the virtual metro area. This system is called ‘Diana TAC.’ This new Diana TAC is completely wireless telephone, can be operated via radio wave and can connect to any kind of phone.”
Engineers and scientists kept on developing the idea and the network system as there was no different network facility for mobile phones. Motorola announced to launch their first mobile phone commercially in 1976.
Analog 1G Network:
The first generation mobile network was built at Chicago in 1977. AT&T made this analog network.
Then Motorola launched the first commercially marketed mobile phone Diana TAC 8000X in 1983 and it was priced at $3,500, which is almost equivalent to $ 9,000 as the present market.
Digital Cellular 2 G Network:
GSM and CDMA – two new technologies came in the market in the 1990s.
These were Second Generation networks that added SMS and download feature.
The downloadable ringtone was the first thing to be downloaded only then. In 1999 NTT DoCoMo of Japan featured Internet service using the second generation mobile network.
3G Mobile Broadband and 4G:
After adding Internet service with the second generation mobile network, NTT DoCoMo launched the Third Generation Network within a short time.
They started the network in 2001 for the first time in South Africa.
South Korea, United States of America, United Kingdom and Italy also started 3rd Gen network quickly.
This 3G network first gave its users the privilege to use broadband service for the first time.
After 3G, a better network system, 4G has already been launched worldwide, whereas in Bangladesh, mobile phone users got 3G network just a few years back.
Smartphone:
As mobile phone created a technological revolution in the communication sector, so does the evolution of Smartphones.
Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, launched i-phone in 2007, which was a full-fledged smartphone.
Though Nokia and Ericson launched smartphone earlier, i-phone was the first smartphone to be a complete one.
And after that, the whole world has become addicted to newer and better smartphones coming randomly from various mobile phone manufacturing companies.
Three – fourths of the total mobile users today are smartphones. Smartphones are becoming more and more popular than feature phones.
Technology specialists assume that one day the total mobile phone market will be captured by smartphones.
Present Situation of Mobile Phone:
The number of mobile phone users is rapidly increased after the 1990s. Mobile phones started to become available in the developing countries and under-developed countries besides developed countries.
According to the International Telecommunication Union under the United Nations, it has been forecasted that the number of mobile users will pass the total population number of the world.
Meanwhile, in developed countries like USA, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, Germany, Iran, Italy, UK and other countries have witnessed the total number of mobile phone users to pass the total population of their countries.
In Bangladesh, almost 70% of people use a the mobile phone.
Some Interesting Facts About Mobile Phone:
- Martin Cooper first called his business rival Joe Angel, after the invention of the mobile phone.
- In 1983, a mobile phone named ‘Brick’ came to market which weighed 785 Pound or 1 Kilogram and the price was $4,000.
- On December 3, 1992, Neil Papworth first texted an SMS via his mobile phone for the first time. He wrote ‘HAPPY CHRISTMAS’.
- Philip Conner first invented a Camera mobile phone. He used it in 1997 to capture a photo of his new born girl.
- The most valuable mobile phone number in the world is 666-6666. It was sold in an auction organized in Qatar. It was sold at the price of 10 million Qatar Riel or $ 2.75 million.
Big Mobile Phone Companies:
Samsung, Nokia, Blackberry, HTC, Motorola, Ericson, Apple are some big mobile phone manufacturers worldwide.
The mobile market is becoming big day by day. Developed technology and smart features are giving mobile phone users a great experience and the demand for this great innovation is becoming huge.
Mobile technology is growing day by day. It is enriched gradually. New inventions and development are continued in this field of technology. From handset design to network, It is changing and being developed.
As like as The History of Computer, mobile phone development has also a history. And the history is adding its elements more by the passing time and new invention and development of the phone and network technology keeping consumer benefits in the head.
