Stuart Wolpin writes the story of how Motorola created the first handheld cellular phone, the Dynatac.
“A year earlier no one had even been considering the development of a hand-held portable phone. The idea of a mobile telephone was not new; car phones had been around in fairly small numbers for about a quarter-century. But each car-phone function required its own mass of transistors, wires, tubes, switches, resonators, and filters. While car phones had gotten smaller over time, they still required a 40-pound, coffeetable-size transceiver that was called portable only because it could be mounted in a car’s trunk.
“Could such a behemoth be turned into something light enough to carry around? In an age of satellite communication, trips to the moon, and the seeming miracle of the pocket calculator, it was assumed that any engineering challenge would eventually be overcome. But even if it was possible, so what? Why would anyone pay a monthly subscription fee and hefty per-call charges when 10-cents-a-call phone booths were everywhere?”
Link: Hold the Phone (americanheritage.com)
Comments 4
Hmm…”“Could such a behemoth be turned into something light enough to carry around?” That phrase vividly brings memories of even biggier device I once saw when in Moscow – a (apparently) successful businessman just has parked his Bentley by a fashion boutique and was trying to make his mind on whether to get his suitcase sized black and shiny mobile with him or just leave it in is car…Finally, he must be thinking that extra exposure wouldnt hurt, so he brought that huge mobile along
I enjoyed reading your post. keep it going!
Posted 27 Mar 2007 at 9:47 am ¶And I’ve just stumbledupon your site – strange enough, your site was unknown to them – at least they asked for my review, which I didnt hesitate to provide
Thanks for the review! Gabe
Posted 27 Mar 2007 at 9:56 am ¶I’ve heard a lot of what the Q can not do, but what can it do. I’m interested in getting people’s thoughts on what third party software they would recommend, if its possible to use antoher internet browser and which one would you recommend, and of course how do you access youtube video files./geo canada
Posted 10 Sep 2007 at 9:28 pm ¶Microsoft don’t get mobile. At all. Never have. Never will. Not just technically – they also don’t get that they’re a tiny bit player (check their global market share if you don’t believe me) and people will just ignore their old dictatorial ways. The next generation of personal computing is what we currently call mobile phones, and it is a blessed relief that Microsoft will have no significant part in it.
Posted 10 Sep 2007 at 9:28 pm ¶Post a Comment