On January 9 2007 the world witnessed the first Apple iPhone. This was the day Steve Jobs showcased the iPhone at the Macworld Conference in San Francisco, California in what is considered to be one of the most significant product launches of all times.  Later that year – June 29 to be precise – people in the United States got their hands on their first ever iPhone. Within three months Apple had sold its one millionth iPhone in the US. At one point during this sales blitzkrieg, 270,000 iPhones were sold in a 30 hour time span; an average of 150 iPhones getting sold every 60 seconds! 

 

Since its launch in June 2007 Apple has sold more than half a billion iPhones. Seldom has something so expensive that occupies such a small volume sold so many units.

 

The iPhone, followed by the Google Android Phone that was launched in 2008 have together changed the way we use our phones in such a fundamental manner that we would be excused in believing that these two devices have changed mobile phone history in ways that nothing else has.

 

However the roots of mobile technology penetrate much deeper into the annals of history.

 

Over the past six decades, government bodies, international standards bodies, giant corporations and individual innovators have each pushed the envelope on what is possible in mobile technology. Innovations have come out of university labs, corporate labs, government labs, workshops & conferences, and from people’s homes and garages.  This evolution has been a tight interplay between the evolution of mobile networks and the mobile phones that use them. Our mobile phones have evolved to meet our ever growing expectations of them, and the networks have evolved to support what people want to be able to do with their phones.

 

While the evolution of mobile technology has been complex and multifarious, if you step back a bit from all the complexity, you can spot some pretty remarkable trends and milestones. These milestones have fundamentally shaped the evolutionary history of the mobile phone and the mobile network.

 

In the first part of this book, I shall take you through what I hope will be a fascinating tour of the history of mobile telephony. In doing so, we will uncover some astounding gems of creativity and innovation. To borrow a phrase from Steve Jobs we will seek to "connect the dots" on the path that has led to the creation of the modern smart phone.

 

So let’s roll the tape back – all the way to the 1800s!