Cell phones are everywhere.  Even 9-year-olds have them.  Cell phones have, at the same time, the capability to be the greatest convenience of your life and business as well as a source of masive irritation to others if you forget your cell phone etiquette–also in life and in business. 

But where did they come from?  Cell phones have developed as a natural progression of experiments, insights, and technological advances in many different areas.  (And how do they work?  This article explains it nicely.)

Notable dates and progressions in the history of the cell phone :

 1843 - Michael Faraday experiments to see if space could conduct electricity

1865 - Mahlon Loomis (a dentist) sent up kites with copper screens connected to the ground with copper wires to transmit messages through the air using the atmosphere as a conductor

1895 - Guglielmo Marconi sent the first wireless message (using Morse Code)

 1921 - The Detroit Police Department installed the first land-mobile radio telephone systems for police car dispatch

1973 -  Martin Cooper from Motorola placed the first cell phone call….to his rival at AT&T.  (I love that…)

 1977 - Chicago became the first city to use cell phones, on a trial basis, with 2000 users.

1983 - Motorola introduced the “DynaTAC,” the first truly portable cell phone.  It cost $3500.00, weighed 2.5 lbs., needed 10 hours to charge for 30 minutes of talk time. 

1980s - most mobile phones in the U.S. were permanently installed as car phones

1987 - over 1 million cell phone users in the U.S.

1990s - as cell phone technology developed, phones became lighter-weight and more powerful and feature-packed

2006 - over 233 million cell phone subscribers in the U.S.

Today, cell phones have progressed to camera phones, and Bluetooth technology has revolutionized it them even more by enabling hands-free use.   In the future, cell phones are expected to use holographic displays, have credit card capabilities, have mobile television reception, and more. 

Do you see the progression?  The emergence of faster, more efficient communication, one technological leap at a time.  (In the end, I’m going to get you to video interviewing with Interview On Demand….you knew that, right?)  So far, we’ve discussed:

The Pony Express

The Telegraph

The Telephone

Cell Phones

What’s next?  The internet.   

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

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