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The mobile phone, also known as cellular phone, has become one of the most successful inventions in the

20th century. In the late 90s, mobile phones became one of the major communication devices. The first commercial mobile phone system started in 1979 in Japan. According to Cellular Online, the global mobile phone subscribers in 2003 are around 1.52 billion, which is about 20 percent of the current world population. This figure showed the success of the mobile phone industries. In about 20 years' time, this technology conquered the global and became a demand for the majority of people in the world. It provided communication for people no matter anywhere and anytime. Mobile phones were meant to be a device which enables users to have the ease on

telecommunication freely wherever they want. But in the late 90s, SMS (Short Message Service), a new technology was brought out. SMS is a transmission of short text message from mobile phones to mobile phones. This became a revolution making mobile phones to develop into a device that not only allows simple voice to voice telecommunication. Mobile phone now not only became an entertainment device (featuring functions such as camera, FM and MP3 players etc) but also allowing users to access through internet, personal digital assistant (PDA) functions and also having video conference using the latest 3G network. Someday, mobile phones might be able to replace computers. From the early stages of analog cellular to now the latest 3G mobile phone system, the mobile phone developed rapidly in the past 20 years. Each stage of development provided a big improve to the industries. From early stages of voice to voice simple communication, to the WAP and GPRS internet connection and now the high speed internet connection through the internet, it showed that mobile phones is one of the leading technology in the high technology industry. The convenience brought by this technology indeed changed the life of many people and society. Many things such as banking, gathering information such as reports or latest news, control the share market via GPRS etc are what the technology helped to improve and ease the life of people. Japan is the country which the mobile phone technology develops the fastest in the world. Before the 3G technology was launched in other countries, the Japanese had already mastered the technology.

Studies believed that a new mobile phone network system, 4G will be in the market in the nearby future. 4G, or known as the fourth generation mobile is a whole new radio access network. Stronger and clearer signals and higher speed (broadband speed, 100 times faster than the 3G connection) connection through the internet are the highlights of the 4G technology. Although the 3G technology had only been promoted no long ago, this new technology is now under development stage and believed to be put out in the market in year 2010. It is believed that the 4G will be a big leap and a whole new revolution for the mobile phone industry and the users.

Along with the development of mobile phones, many subsidiary technology developed by the mobile phone companies were also developed and influencing other products such as Bluetooth, Symbian (an operating system (OS) specially designed for mobile phones) and some software companies that designs software for the Symbian OS. These technologies improved the interactive among mobile phones and the users. It provided a much convenience and wider usage for the mobile phone users. More and more companies now are trying to gain a share in the mobile phone market. Many big companies which are developing PDA OS such as Window CE (Pocket PC), PALM and Linux are also engaging their OS with mobile phones functions. This proved that the mobile phone industry is indeed a good market to invest in. The competition in the market is also another reason causing the mobile phone industry to develop in such a short time.

Since mobile phone was developed and used by a large population of people, it changed the lifestyle of many people. On positive views, mobile phone provided a fast and immediate communication for people, which built up a much closer relationship within each another. Though, the negative views of mobile phone became a popular discussion now. Symptoms such as radiation which causes cancer from the mobile phones and mobile phone addiction are now argued to be the disadvantages of the technology. The danger brought by using mobile phones such as the unsafe of using mobile phone during driving or radiation of mobile phone causing danger to certain places such as the gas station are also problems for mobile phone users. The Changes to Mobile Phones over the last 30 years Although mobile phones have taken over our current society, they have been around for several decades in some form or another. Beginning in the late 1940s, the technology that would later be used in todays cell phones was created and the idea of a mobile phone was introduced. This cell technology was first used in mobile rigs which was mainly used in taxis, police cars and other emergency vehicles and situations. Truckers also used a form of this technology to communicate with each other.

First Generation or 1G

The first mobile phones, referred to as First Generation or 1G, were introduced to the public market in 1983 by the Motorola Company. These first mobile phones used analog technology which was much less reliable than the digital technology we use today. The analog phones also had a great deal more static and noise interference than we are accustomed to today. The first mobile phones during this era were confined to car phones and they were permanently installed in the floorboard of automobiles. After a few years, they became mobile and consumers could take the phones with them outside of the car. However, they were the size of a large briefcase and very inconvenient. The main purpose of this First Generation technology was for voice traffic, but consumers felt insecure about people listening in on their conversations. These new mobile phones were also rather expensive, many of them costing hundreds of dollars. They were more of a status symbol during the decade rather than a means of convenience.

Second Generation or 2G technology During the 1990s, great improvements were made in the mobile phone technology. These phones used Second Generation, or 2G technology. In 1990, the first cell phone call was made using the new digital technology that became characteristic of this era. The Second Generation cellular phone technology was faster and much quieter than its analog predecessor. As a result, it became even more popular than previous models, too. The new technology also made them capable of being smaller rather than the large briefcase-sized units from the 1980s. Smaller batteries and other technology that made the phones more energy-efficient helped contribute to their smaller sizes and their popularity. Companies also strived to make the prices more affordable than the mobile phones of the 1980s. You could buy a decent cell phone with 2G technology for approximately $200 along with an airtime service. The cell phone industry was beginning to take

off.

Third Generation technology or 3G

The Third Generation technology, or 3G, is what many people currently use in their digital cellular phones today. This technology was created very soon after the excitement that the 2G technology created. This new technology is not only capable of transferring voice data (such as a phone call), but it is also able to transfer other types of data, including emails, information and instant messages. These capabilities have helped to increase the amount of sales and the popularity of these new phones. Many users prefer to use the instant messaging capabilities to text other users rather than call them in the form of a traditional phone call. Many cell phone companies offer free and very affordable phones for consumers who sign-up with their airtime service for a contractual period. Prices for the services range but the competition in the industry is helping to keep them more affordable than they have been in previous years.

Future evolution: broadband fourth generation (4G) The recently released 4th generation, also known as Beyond 3G, aims to provide broadband wireless access with nominal data rates of 100 Mbit/s to fast moving devices, and 1 Gbit/s to stationary devices defined by the ITU-R[56] 4G systems may be based on the 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) cellular standard, offering peak bit rates of 326.4 Mbit/s. It may perhaps also be based on WiMax or Flash-OFDM wireless metropolitan area network technologies that promise broadband wireless access with speeds that reaches 233 Mbit/s for mobile users. The radio interface in these systems is based on all-IP packet switching, MIMO diversity, multi-carrier modulation schemes, Dynamic Channel Assignment (DCA) and channel-dependent scheduling. A 4G system should be a complete

replacement for current network infrastructure and is expected to be able to provide a comprehensive and secure IP solution where voice, data, and streamed multimedia can be given to users on a "Anytime, Anywhere" basis, and at much higher data rates than previous generations. In March 2011, KT from South Korea announced that they has expanded its high-speed wireless broadband network by 4G WiBro cover 85 percent of the population. It is the largest broadband network covered in the world, followed by Japan and US with 70 percent and 36 percent respectively.[57] In early 2011, 4G mobile phones were released by Motorola, HTC and Samsung.[58]

There are currently plans in place to develop a Fourth Generation 4G technology. Goals for this new set of standards include a combination of technologies that will make information transfer and internet capabilities faster and more affordable for cellular phones. At this time, there is no one definition that can be attributed to 4G technology because researchers are still striving to make advances and build upon the technology that already exists.

The mobile phone industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds as it has in the past few decades. Even though it started a little more than 20 years ago, manufacturers have created an abundance of new technologies that keep cell phone users coming back for more. They continue to increase the number of capabilities and services to accommodate the growing needs of todays on the go culture.

As the number and quality of WI/FI points become available and with the growth of Smart Phones that not only provide the basic functions expected in a mobile phone but provide so much

more the market is changing and brand new players have entered the market including Apple with the successful Iphone and Research Machines with the equally successful Blackberry. In 2008 a new player enters the market providing an open source operating system for mobile phones that manufacturers can use and adapt, the new player is Google who make the Android operating system available and the first phone to appear is the G1 from T-Mobile, because the OS is open source the number of applications available is expected to grow and sites like The Android Library who provide a library of the latest free and commercial applications will grow.

The mobile phone Operating system is not just about what you see on your handset but will also be used in the next generation of electronic book readers, Incar computer navigation systems and possibly even netbooks which are the fastest growing area of growth in the home computer market. Unlike other Mobile Phone Operating Systems which are tied to a single phone ( Apple, Palm and Blackberry ) or mobile phones OS which cost a a license fee, the release of android is a free software and open source license

Over the last few years the growth in the number of applications for the Iphone has grown to more than ( June 2009 50,000 applications available on the iPhone App Store ). These applications including variety, quality and usefulness and have helped to grow the Apple Iphone user base. With Google introducing the Android open source software it will be interesting to see the number of Android apps that appear on the market currently (June 2009 5000 apps on the Android App Store ) a long way behind Apple.

Cell phone technology is based on radio technology that was developed from the 1940s onward. For instance, the beginning of cell phones can be traced to the innovation in taxi cabs, police cars, and other service vehicles where two way radios allowed taxi drivers or police officers to communicate with one another or with a central base. Early cell phone communication technology can even be traced back to individuals with special radios that patch into a phone line via live operator to make a phone call. The Swedish police used the first official mobile phone in 1946. The technology was connected to the telephone network and was distinctive of two way radio technology. The phone was not very practical as it could only make 6 phone calls before the cars battery was drained. Modern cell phone technology started when D.H. Ring from Bell Labs created hexagonal cells for mobile phones in 1947. Later on, another engineer from Bell Labs came up with the idea of cell towers that would transmit and receive signals in three directions instead of two. However, although some technologies have been developed, electronics and other technologies take decades to mature. For instance, the electronics that were used in the first cell phones were first developed in the 1960s. By 1967, mobile phone technology was available. However, the user had to stay within one cell area. Cell areas that a base station serviced were unable to hand off cellular phone calls from one base station to another. While users could make a phone call, they were unable to continue the call after they reached a set range. In 1970, Amos Edward Joel, who also was an engineer at Bell Labs, developed the call handoff system. This technology facilitated phone calls from one area to another that would not be dropped. While the technology had been developed, it was not until 1971 that AT&T submitted a request to the FCC for cellular service. It took more than 10 years for an approval and in 1982, the FCC allocated the frequencies of 824-894 MHZ Band to Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS). From 1982 to 1990, AMPS was an analog service, Digital AMPS came along in 1990. Throughout the decades, many technologies that made mobile phones available existed. Most of the time, these phones were installed in vehicles due to the large battery requirements. For instance, the MTA (Mobile Telephone System A) that Eriksson developed was available in Sweden in the 1950s. Unfortunately, it weighed over 80 pounds. Later versions weighed around 20 pounds, which is still ineffective in comparison to the portable devices that are used today.

First Generation Cell Phones

In 1983, Motorola unveiled the first truly portable cellular phone to the world. It was called the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. The FCC approved it in the United States. Motorola developed the technology for cellular phones for decades and this particular phone took 15 years to come on the market at the cost of over 100 million dollars. The DynaTAC800X was extremely lightweight for its time and only weighed about 28 ounces. It was 13 inches x 1.75 inches x 3.5 inches and was known as the Brick for its shape. It was largely developed with the help of Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola. From 1983 to the end of the 1980s, cell phones grew in popularity due to the innovations in cellular networks that were able to handle phone calls in either one area or hand them off to other areas. While most cell phones were not made to be carried in the hand, all phones were made for permanent installation in the car. For a while the term car phone was extremely popular. Besides car phones, there were a few models that came in tote bag configurations that easily hooked up to a cars battery via the DC outlet. There were also a few models that came as briefcases, to hold large batteries necessary to make phone calls.

Second Generation Cellular Phones


Cellular phones from the early 1990s are considered second generation (2G) and they were able to work on mobile phone systems such as GSM, IS-136 (TDMA), and IS-95 (CDMA). Digital mobile phone networks were in use in the United States in 1990 and in Europe by 1991. 2G mobile phones use digital circuit switched transmissions. This ultimately enabled quicker network signaling, lowering the amount of dropped calls and increasing call quality. As 2G digital networks were online most of the time, they replaced analog network frequencies, effectively making them obsolete. Phones based on 2G technology were much smaller than the brick telephones of the mid to late 80s. Most 2G cellular phones were usually in the range of 100 to 200 grams, plus they were hand held devices that were truly portable and did not need a large battery. Advances in battery and computer chip technology also helped to make 2G cell phones much smaller than their predecessors. With these innovations, cell phone use soared.

Third Generation Cellular Phones


Third Generation cellular phones is the technology that is currently available and it is commonly referred to as 3G. While 3G came only a few years after 2G, mainly due to many innovations in technology and services, standards for 3G are usually different depending on the network. It is usually stated that 3G is not necessarily a rigid standard, but is a set of requirements that most networks and cell phone providers follow. There are two main requirements: they include 2 Megabits of maximum data rate indoors and 384 kbits for outdoor use. 3G mobile phones usually include innovations to receive much more than phone calls. For instance, SMS text is available and some 3G phones also offer email and Internet access. Technologies are continuing to improve and new innovations such as streaming radio, TV, as well as Wifi are currently breaking into the market.

ellular: A type of wireless communication that is most familiar to mobile phones users. It's called 'cellular' because the system uses many base stations to divide a service area into multiple 'cells'. Cellular calls are transferred from base station to base station as a user travels from cell to cell. - definition from the Wireless Advisor Glossary. The basic concept of cellular phones began in 1947, when researchers looked at crude mobile (car) phones and realized that by using small cells (range of service area) with frequency reuse they could increase the traffic capacity of mobile phones substantially. However at that time, the technology to do so was nonexistent. Anything to do with broadcasting and sending a radio or television message out over the airwaves comes under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation. A cell phone is a type of two-way radio. In 1947, AT&T proposed that the FCC allocate a large number of radio-spectrum frequencies so that widespread mobile telephone service would become feasible and AT&T would have a incentive to research the new technology. We can partially blame the FCC for the gap between the initial concept of cellular service and its availability to the public. The FCC decided to limit the amount of frequencies available in 1947, the limits made only twenty-three phone conversations possible simultaneously in the same service area - not a market incentive for research.

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The FCC reconsidered its position in 1968, stating "if the technology to build a better mobile service works, we will increase the frequencies allocation, freeing the airwaves for more mobile phones." AT&T and Bell Labs proposed a cellular system to the FCC of many small, low-powered, broadcast towers, each covering a 'cell' a few miles in radius and collectively covering a larger area. Each tower would use only a few of the total frequencies allocated to the system. As the phones traveled across the area, calls would be passed from tower to tower. Individual Inventors & Mobile Phone Patents Dr. Martin Cooper for Motorola. US03906166 09/16/1975 Radio telephone system

Inventors: Martin Cooper, Richard W. Dronsuth, ; Albert J. Mikulski, Charles N. Lynk Jr., James J. Mikulski, John F. Mitchell, Roy A. Richardson, John H. Sangster Dr Martin Cooper, a former general manager for the systems division at Motorola, is considered the inventor of the first modern portable handset. Cooper made the first call on a portable cell phone in April 1973. He made the call to his rival, Joel Engel, Bell Labs head of research. Bell Laboratories introduced the idea of cellular communications in 1947 with the police car technology. However, Motorola was the first to incorporate the technology into portable device that was designed for outside of a automobile use. Cooper and his coinventors are listed above. By 1977, AT&T and Bell Labs had constructed a prototype cellular system. A year later, public trials of the new system were started in Chicago with over 2000 trial customers. In 1979, in a separate venture, the first commercial cellular telephone system began operation in Tokyo. In 1981, Motorola and American Radio telephone started a second U.S. cellular radio-telephone system test in the Washington/Baltimore area. By 1982, the slow-moving FCC finally authorized commercial cellular service for the USA. A year later, the first American commercial analog cellular service or AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service) was made available in Chicago by Ameritech. Despite the incredible demand, it took cellular phone service 37 years to become commercially available in the United States. Consumer demand quickly outstripped the 1982 system standards. By 1987, cellular telephone subscribers exceeded one million and the airways were crowded. Three ways of improving services existed: one - increase frequencies allocation two - split existing cells three - improve the technology

The FCC did not want to handout any more bandwidth, and building/splitting cells would have been expensive and would have added bulk to the network. To stimulate the growth of new technology, the FCC declared in 1987 that cellular licensees could employ alternative cellular technologies in the 800 MHz band. The cellular industry began to research new transmission technology as an alternative. Editor's Note: African American Inventor Henry Sampson did not invent the cell phone. Sampson is a brilliant and accomplished inventor who invented a Gamma-Electrical Cell and not a phone cell. Sampson's patent (US 3,591,860) can be viewed online or in person at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. PCS (Personal Communication Services): Used to describe a newer class of wireless communications services recently authorized by the FCC. PCS systems use a different radio frequency, the 1.9 GHz band, than cellular phones and generally use all-digital technology for transmission and reception. (Definition from the Wireless Advisor glossary.) After the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) declared in 1987 that cellular licensees could employ alternative cellular technologies in the 800 MHz band, the cellular industry began to research new transmission technology as an alternative to AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service) that had been the industry standard since 1978.

In 1988, the Cellular Technology Industry Association (CTIA) was established to work with the cellular service operators and researchers to identify new technology requirements and set goals. They wanted the new products and services introduced by 1991, a 1000% percent increase in system capacity with both AMPS (analog) and digital capability during transmission, and new data features such as fax and messaging services. The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) created a standard specification based on the requirements the CTIA had recommended. The TDMA Interim Standard 54 or TDMA IS-54 was released in early 1991. The technology was tested that same year in Dallas and Sweden. In 1994, the FCC announced it was allocating spectrum specifically for PCS technologies at the 1900 MHz band. Three major standards have been released since 1991. All of these new digital wireless standards are currently being used in PCS (Personal Communication Services - see definition at top of page). Wireless Standards Analog Service: A method of modulating radio signals so that they can carry information such as voice or data. Analog cellular phones work like a FM radio. The receiver and transmitter are tuned to the same frequency, and the voice transmitted is varied within a small band to create a pattern that the receiver reconstructs, amplifies and sends to a speaker. The drawback of analog is the limitation on the number of channels that can be used. Digital Service: A method of encoding information using a binary code of 0s and 1s. Most newer wireless phones and networks use digital technology. In digital, the analog voice signal is converted into binary code and transmitted as a series of on and off transmissions. One of digital's drawbacks, is that there are three digital wireless technologies, CDMA, TDMA and GSM. Phones that work with one technology may not work on another. TDMA IS-136 (Time Division Multiple Access) is an update to TDMA IS-54, also called Digital AMPS or D-AMPS. Released in 1994, TDMA IS-136 uses the frequency bands available to the wireless network and divides them into time slots with each phone user having access to one time slot at regular intervals. TDMA IS-136 exists in North America at both the 800 MHz and 1900 MHz bands. Major US carriers using TDMA are AT&T Wireless Services, Bell South and Southwestern Bell. CDMA IS-95 (Code Division Multiple Access) is based on a form of spread spectrum technology that separates voice signals by assigning them digital codes within the same broad spectrum. CDMA type technology dates back to the 1940s, when spread spectrum technology was used in military communications systems because it was resistant to interference from enemy signals. The Qualcomm corporation began developing a CDMA wireless system in the late 1980s that was accepted as a standard in 1993 and went into operation by 1996. CDMA also exists at both the 800 MHz and 1900 MHz bands. The major US carriers using CDMA are Air Touch, Bell Atlantic/Nynex, GTE, Primeco and Sprint PCS. GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is based on a improved version of TDMA technology. In 1982, the Conference of European Posts and Telecommunications (CEPT) began the process of creating a digital cellular standard that would allow users to roam from country to country in Europe. By 1987, the GSM standard was created based on a hybrid of FDMA (analog) and TDMA (digital) technologies. GSM engineers decided to use wider 200 kHz channels instead of the 30 khz channels that TDMA used, and instead of having only 3 slots like TDMA, GSM channels had 8 slots. This allowed for fast bit rates and more natural-

sounding voice-compression algorithms. GSM is currently the only one of the three technologies that provide data services such as email, fax, internet browsing, and intranet/LAN wireless access, and it's also the only service that permits users to place a call from either North America or Europe. The GSM standard was accepted in the United States in 1995. GSM-1900 cellular systems have been operating in the US since 1996, with the first network being in the Washington, D.C. area. Major carriers of GSM 1900 include Omnipoint, Pacific Bell, BellSouth, Sprint Spectrum, Microcell, Western Wireless, Powertel and Aerial.

In today's world, most people communicate through the use cellular phones. It's hard to believe that fifteen years ago cell phones were a rarity. Below is a history chronicling the dawn of the cell phone to its current state. 1843 - A skilled analytical chemist by the name of Michael Faraday began exhaustive research into whether space could conduct electricity. Faraday exposed his great advances of nineteenth-century science and technology and his discoveries have had an incalculable effect on technical development toward cellular phone development. 1865 - Dr. Mahlon Loomis of Virginia, a dentist, may have been the first person to communicate through wireless via the atmosphere. Between 1866 and 1873 he transmitted telegraphic messages at a distance of 18 miles between the tops of Cohocton and Beorse Deer Mountains, Virginia. He developed a method of transmitting and receiving messages by using the Earth's atmosphere as a conductor and launching kites enclosed with a copper screens that were linked to the ground with copper wires. Congress then awarded Loomis a $50,000 research grant. 1973 - Dr Martin Cooper, is considered the inventor of the first portable handset. Dr. Cooper, former general manager for the systems division at Motorola, and the first person to make a call on a portable cellular phone. 1973 - Dr. Cooper set up a base station in New York with the first working prototype of a cellular telephone, the Motorola Dyna-Tac. Mr. Cooper and Motorola took the phone technology to New York to show the public. 1977 - Cell phones go public. Public cell phone testing began. The city of Chicago was where the first trials began with 2000 customers, and eventually other cell phone trials appeared in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore area. Japan began testing cellular phone service in 1979. 1988 - this year changed many of the technologies that had become typical in the past. The Cellular Technology Industry Association (CTIA) was developed to lay down practical goals for cellular phone providers. This included research for new applications for cell phone development. A new standard was placed with the creation of the TDMA Interim Standard 54, in 1991 by the Telecommunications Industry Association. In spite of the unbelievable demand, it took cellular phone service 37 years total to become commercially accessible in the US. According to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, today there are more than 60 million customers with cellular phones, even though wireless service was just invented nearly 50 years ago. The cellular business was a $3 million market 25 years ago and has grown increasingly to close to a $30 billion per year industry.

The Timeline of Mobile Phones

1835

In 1835, American painter Samuel Morse made the first working electric telegraph using an electromagnet. By 1838 he had also developed the system of dots and dashes which enabled complex messages to be sent. By 1844 he had raised support from Congress and the first telegraph line was opened, from Baltimore to Washington. Morse sent the first message: 'What hath God wrought?' Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call on March 10, 1876, in Boston, through the Liquid Transmitter he had designed. He uttered the first words to be carried over a wire: "Mr. Watson, come here, I want you!" In 1906, a radio engineer named Lee de Forest transmitted a message to an experimental phone in a car idling on a New York street: "How do you like your first wireless ride? The fire department, steamships, and railways ought to adopt the same method of communication." Later he declared: "Hereafter, we hope it will be possible for businessmen, even while automobiling, to stay in constant touch." The first commercial telephone calls in the UK were made in 1912 when the General Post Office controlled the telephone networks. In 1946 a mobile telephone service (MTS) was introduced by AT&T in the United States. A mobile user who wished to place a call from a radiotelephone had to search manually for an unused 35-megahertz or 150-megahertz band before they could place a call. Only one person could speak at a time and the call direction was controlled by a push-to-talk button on the handset just like a walkie talkie. When mobiles were first launched, each country was limited to its own national area they could call overseas landlines or mobiles but they would not work overseas. The first mobile phone weighed 76lbs (34kg).

1876

1906

1912 1946

1880

In the early 1980's the consultants McKinsey & Co were hired by AT&T to forecast the growth in the mobile market until the end of the millennium. They projected a world market of 900,000. Today, 900,000 handsets are sold every three days. In May 1983 Licences were granted to Cellnet and Vodafone to provide national cellular radio networks in the UK. 1985 saw the emergence of shoulder phones which operated with more than 20kg worth of batteries which is why they were used mostly in cars. Vodafone and Cellnet opened for business in January 1985. Cellnet's charges were as follows: -Lease of cellular phone - 164 per quarter (equivalent of approximately 262 at today's prices) -Installation charge - 100 (approximately 160 at today's prices) -Connection to Cellnet system - 60 (approximately 96 at today's prices)

1983 1985

1991

The first call ever placed on a commercial GSM (Global Standard for Mobile) phone was on 1 July 1991. Harri Holkeri, governor of the Bank of Finland, telephoned the mayor of Helsinki to talk about the price of Baltic herring. September 1993 saw the launch of One 2 One, the first GSM 1800 all-digital network in the world. April 1994 Hutchison Microtel announced the launch of its UK network, Orange. SMS - the Short Message Service - was launched in 1994 enabling short text messages to be exchanged between mobiles.

1993 1994

1998

In December 1998, Oftel Director General, David Edmonds, announced an intention to implement fully the recommendations made by the MMC following an investigation, made at the request of Oftel, into the price of calls made to mobile phones. In 1998 more mobile phones were sold world-wide than cars and PCs combined.

1999

From 1 January 1999, mobile phone customers were able to keep their old number when switching networks. The UK is the first country in the world to give customers this ability. April 1999 saw the emergence of the first mobiles able to send email and use the web. 22 September 1999, House of Commons Science and Technology Committee finds no health risk from mobile phones apart from use while driving, though urges manufacturers to continue research.

TODAY Today we have picture phones, multimedia video messaging and 3G handsets. Mobile phones have become a massive part of our lives, so much so that you sometimes wonder how you got by without one!

Mobile phone A mobile telephone or cellular telephone (commonly, "mobile phone" or "cell phone") is a long-range, portable electronic device used for mobile communiction. In addition to the standard voice function of a telephone, current mobile phones can support many additional services such as SMS for text mesasaging, email, packet switching for access to the Internet, and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video. Most current mobile phones connect to a cellular network of base stations (cell sites), which is in turn interconnected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) (the exception are satellite phones). History The introduction of hexagonal cells for mobile phone base stations, invented in 1947 by Bell Labs engineers at AT&T, was further developed by Bell Labs during the 1960s. Radiophones have a long and varied history going back to the Second World War with military use of radio telephony links and civil services in the 1950s, while hand-held cellular radio devices have been available since 1983. Due to their low establishment costs and rapid deployment, mobile phone networks have since spread rapidly throughout the world, outstripping the growth of fixed telephony. In 1945, the 0G generation of mobile telephones were introduced. 0G mobile telephones, such as Mobile Telephone Service, were not officially categorized as mobile phones, since they did not support the automatic change of channel frequency in the middle of a call, when the user moved from one cell (base station coverage area) to another cell, a feature called "handover". In 1970 Amos Joel of Bell Labs invented the "call handoff" feature, which allowed a mobile-phone user to travel through several cells during the same conversation. Martin Cooper of Motorola is widely considered to be the inventor of the first practical mobile phone for handheld use in a non-vehicle setting. Using a modern, if somewhat heavy portable handset, Cooper made the first call on a handheld mobile phone on April 3, 1973. At the time he made his call, Cooper was working as Motorola's General Manager of its Communications Division. Fully automatic cellular networks were first introduced in the early to mid-1980s (the 1G generation). The first fully automatic mobile phone system was the 1981 Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system. Until the early 1990s, most mobile phones were too large to be carried in a jacket pocket, so they were usually permanently

installed in vehicles as car phones. With the advance of miniaturization and smaller digital components, mobile phones got smaller and lighter.

Manufacturers Nokia Corporation is currently the world's largest manufacturer of mobile telephones, with a global market share of approximately 36% in Q1 of 2007.Other mobile phone manufacturers include Audiovox (now UT Starcom), Benefon, BenQ-Siemens, High Tech Computer Corporation (HTC), Fujitsu, Kyocera, 3G, LG Mobile, Motorola, NEC, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric), Pantech Curitel, Philips, Research In Motion, Sagem, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Siemens, Sierra Wireless, SK Teletech, Sony Ericsson, T&A Alcatel,Toshiba, Verizon, and soon to be Apple Inc.. There are also specialist communication systems related to (but distinct from) mobile phones, such as Professional Mobile Radio. Technology Mobile phones and the network they operate under vary significantly from provider to provider, and nation to nation. However, all of them communicate through electromagnetic radio waves with a cell site base station, the antennas of which are usually mounted on a tower, pole or building. The phones have a low-power transceiver that transmits voice and data to the nearest cell sites, usually not more than 5 to 8 miles (approximately 8 to 13 kilometers) away. When the mobile phone or data device is turned on, it registers with the mobile telephone exchange, or switch, with its unique identifiers, and will then be alerted by the mobile switch when there is an incoming telephone call. The handset constantly listens for the strongest signal being received from the surrounding base stations. As the user moves around the network, the mobile device will "handoff" to various cell sites during calls, or while waiting (idle) between calls it will reselect cell sites. Cell sites have relatively low-power (often only one or two watts) radio transmitters which broadcast their presence and relay communications between the mobile handsets and the switch. The switch in turn connects the call to another subscriber of the same wireless service provider or to the public telephone network, which includes the networks of other wireless carriers. Many of these sites are camouflaged to blend with existing environments, particularly in high-scenery areas. The dialogue between the handset and the cell site is a stream of digital data that includes digitized audio (except for the first generation analog networks). The technology that achieves this depends on the system which the mobile phone operator has adopted. Some technologies include AMPS for analog, and D-AMPS, CDMA2000, GSM, GPRS, EV-DO, and UMTS for digital communications. Each network operator has a unique radio frequency band.

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