In 1973 Martin Cooper made a phone call and changed the world. He stood outside the New York Hilton on Sixth Avenue and made the world’s first cell phone
call. The former Motorola Vice President used the opportunity to taunt
his competitor – calling Joel Engel at Bell Labs, the company he had
just beaten in the race to build the first cell phone.“Joel, this is Marty. I’m calling you from a cell phone. A real handheld portable phone.”
Most of us didn’t see a cell phone until 1987, when Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) made a call on what looked like a suitcase attached to a military walkie-talkie in Lethal Weapon. Those first models weighed three pounds and cost around $100 a month, plus tolls. The bulky device made possible the amazing gadgets we now take for granted.
Warner Bros.
“I was working at Koons Ford in Baltimore. A salesman came in to sell the ‘brick’ to the staff,” said Ruth, an office manager in Maryland. “I was so intrigued by it that I bought one for my husband. He was a real estate salesman. We thought we were on top of the world,” she said, adding that she sent that quote from her iPad.
If Bell were to make that call today it is likely Watson would answer it on a cell phone he bought himself. A new survey by RingCentral found that 70% of us use mobile phones to communicate for work. Nearly half are using their own phone instead of the 24% who got one from the boss. The survey was inspired by the 40-year anniversary of the cell phone. It reveals surprises in how we communicate in the workplace and the generational divide in phone behavior. For instance:
* 200,000 text messages were sent every second in 2012
* 61% of people under 40 report never using a phone book, in any circumstance. (The first phone book, issued in 1878, was 20 pages and instructed users to "commence the conversation by saying, ‘Hulloa!’")
* 41% of people under 25 hate when you don’t pick up the phone after you just texted them.
* 60% of people older than 40 still have a traditional home phone, while 69% under 40 use their mobile phone as their home phone.
* 60% of people have their email addresses plus four separate phone numbers on their business cards.
* 3% of those surveyed have resigned from a job via text.
* 61% of people under 40 report never using a phone book, in any circumstance. (The first phone book, issued in 1878, was 20 pages and instructed users to "commence the conversation by saying, ‘Hulloa!’")
* 41% of people under 25 hate when you don’t pick up the phone after you just texted them.
* 60% of people older than 40 still have a traditional home phone, while 69% under 40 use their mobile phone as their home phone.
* 60% of people have their email addresses plus four separate phone numbers on their business cards.
* 3% of those surveyed have resigned from a job via text.
Alexander Graham Bell
It seems impossible that Cooper could envision such a world when he made that fist call 40 years ago. But he did. Still considered a rock star in the industry, Cooper saw a future where the technology would liberate us. He called his invention the “personal telephone.” As reported in The Atlantic, he regarded the device “something that would represent an individual, so you could assign a number not to a place, not to a desk, not to a home, but to a person.” Did he succeed? Financially, the numbers don’t lie. Most of us have cell phones and the industry has become an arms race to bring new tech to a market that craves it. But not everyone believes in his prophecy that the cell phone would liberate us.
“How many automobile crashes have we had because of distracted drivers," said Caryn, who works for a state motor vehicle administration. She sees the dangerous side of cell phone use. "How about the train operator who derailed the train and killed folks because he was texting?”
On the other hand is Emily, a mother from Maryland who believes the technology makes important moments possible.
“The FBI may not have caught the Boston suspect as quickly if they didn't have all that cell phone camera footage,” she said. “And, on 9/11, many of those who perished were able to call their loved ones to say goodbye.”
Source: Yahoo
