The First Cell Phone Call 46 Years Ago Reminds Us Not To Take Our Smartphones For Granted

Dhir Acharya - Apr 05, 2019

Although much has changed over the past few decades, it always goes back to that first cell phone call 46 years ago, on April 3, 1973.

46 years ago, on April 3, 1973, the world was completely changed when Martin Cooper, former VP and division manager of Motorola, made the first cell phone call.

The call took place in front of the New York Hilton, Sixth Avenue, via Motorola’s DynaTAC phone. Cooper called to Bell Labs’ head research, which was also trying to make the first cell phone.

Martin Cooper made the first cell phone call

This call not only freed people from their fix telephones, but it also opened the door leading to true mobility with impacts on our every life aspect.

Today, bulky phones like the DynaTAC have given the stage to sleek smartphones and tablets with a super-fast Internet connection as well as smart brains. And while phones were meant for phone calls, people now actually use them to surf the Internet, play games, order food online, send and receive emails or text messages.

Cooper is still a revered figure of mobile phone history, and last fall, he also showed up at Motorola’s RAZR event. When current execs of the company raised his named, everyone paused for a moment of respect to honor his accomplishments.

Martin Cooper and the Motorola DynaTAC

Things have changed a lot since Cooper worked at the company and Motorola became a major player in the telecom industry. However, there’s not much left of it, tech giant Google has acquired most of its remaining, the rest has gone to Apple, the other current major phone player.

Back in 2013, on the occasion of the 40^th anniversary, Cisco created an infographic to highlight some of the biggest milestones covering from Cooper’s first call to Google Glass and further. The first commercial text message was sent in 1992, reading “LOL”. In 1994, Tetris debuted as the first mobile game. Ten years later, the world saw the first WiFi-certified mobile phone, which is now a must-have feature.

The graphic also marked 2008 as the year Apple’s App Store came out, the first of a new generation of app stores, inspiring a lot of developers.

Moving on, the introduction of cellular technology opened the door for entirely new connected devices, such as Google Glass indicated in this infographic.

Although much has changed over the past few decades, the role of cell phones may not remain the same, but it always goes back to that first cell phone call 46 years ago.