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.
It sounds primitive until you consider it has been 137 years since
Alexander Graham Bell
made the first telephone. On March 10, 1876, the inventor called his
assistant, Thomas Watson. “Mr. Watson,” he said. “Come here. I want to
see you.”
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.
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.
“I think they have been taken so far that they allow horrible acts to
be performed more easily,” said Wendy, a school teacher whose opinion
comes from the front lines of educating teenagers. “Sexting, remote
detonated bombs, the inability of our teens to communicate face-to-face.
Not to mention GPS tracking linked to photos posted online. It’s like
handing the keys to your car to a very tall five year old.”
“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
