- During the 1950s, mobile phone technology was used extensively in trains throughout Europe. Radio communication was common in the United States in taxicabs and emergency vehicles. Car phones were luxury items that spread slowly in popularity. Their great weight, size and cost limited mobile phones to the extraordinarily wealthy. The technology did not catch on until the FCC approved commercial cellular phone service in 1982. Within several years, they were a mass market product.
- The first generation of mobile phones (commonly referred to as 1G) made analog transmissions only--meaning that they transmitted data through a sliding scale of information, rather than through binary code as in digital transmissions. The transmission protocol that the phones used was almost entirely determined by the FCC regulations regarding bandwidth usage. The FCC restricts what frequencies are allowed for use for certain purposes by selected licensed companies. The mobile phones of this period were very hefty--often weighing two to four pounds--and cost thousands of dollars.
- Mobile phone technology developed around the world at roughly the same pace as in the US. Japan and Europe deregulated their airwaves at a slightly quicker pace than in the US. Mobile phones were launched first in Japan in 1979, for example, years before they entered the market in the US. However, the first mobile phone in the US was launched by an American company, Motorola. Europe, Japan and South Korea adopted third generation (3G) phone standards much faster than in the US during the early 2000s, in part due to slower deregulation in the US.
- The advance of computer miniaturization during the 1980s allowed mobile phone companies to shrink down the size of their briefcase units to handheld phones by the late 1980s. In the 1990s, very small phones became common, as did those with significant additional features, such as note-taking, personal organization and e-mail. Second generation (2G) phones that used digital transmission--most significantly making it possible to send and receive SMS text messages--became common throughout the world beginning in 1990.
- In just a few short decades, mobile phone technology has greatly enhanced human communication. People can stay in touch with their friends and family at all times. Workers can collaborate with one another instantaneously, around the world, at any time and in any place. The most advanced phones can browse the internet at high speeds and run complex applications that would have taxed an advanced computer just 20 years ago. Modern phones can serve as GPS systems, provide mobile video feedback, trade stocks and much more. In the developing world, cell phones have provided low-cost communications infrastructure, connecting the world's poorest people to the global marketplace like never before.
