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Rise in digital tech use, 1980–2010

1980

• Cell phone subscribers: 11.2 million
• Internet users: All Internet users at this time were indexed in a phone book sized directory.

1990

• Cell phone subscribers: 12.4 million (0.25% of world population in 1990)
• Internet users: 2.8 million (0.05% of world population in 1990)

2002

• Cell phone subscribers: 1,174,000,000 (19% of world population in 2002)
• Internet users: 631 million (11% of world population in 2002)

2010

• Cell phone subscribers: 4 billion (67% of world population in 2010) 
• Internet users: 1,800 million (26.6% of world population in 2010)

By the 1980s, the cell phone was being used by a small population of the public - although in its fundamental form. The technology was new, the phones heavy and inconvenient to carry, and the service and phone extremely expensive. It was not surprising, therefore, that not many people were impressed enough with the cell phone to pay the high prices.

But as technology advanced, and the cell phone came down in weight and price, more and more people took the streets with cell phone in hand. Today's compact and streamlined cell phone offers a bevy of services - from phone and camera to calendar and music - and is a vital accessory for most everyone. Whether conducting business or communicating at a moment's notice with friends and family - the cell phone has elevated communication to the next level.





03 April 1973
The first mobile telephone call was made on this day forty years ago by a Motorola engineer named Martin Cooper. The Motorola DynaTAC, which took a full ten hours to charge and stood at 22.9 centimetres tall, is widely accepted as being the first phone which made a mobile call. The phone is reported to have only held charge for approximately 30 minutes (years later it was admitted that this was more likely 20 minutes); good job really considering it weighed approximately the same weight as a large pineapple (1kg). This phone was made popular by Michael Douglas playing Gordon Gekko in the seventies Hollywood movie Wall Street. However, unless you were as rich as Gekko, chances are you may not have had a spare £4,000 dollars to spend on one of these.





01 December 1979
In the years when Margaret Thatcher was about to dominate politics, the Japanese introduced the first commercial mobile phone network. Aimed at the rich initially, these phones were car-phones and available only to rent at first. The cost of one of these would have set you back around £3,600 dollars every year (not including the cost of the call itself). By 1984, these phones were much cheaper, with coverage available to the whole of Japan.


 
















1982
Nokia not wanting to be left behind introduced their first mobile car phone in the early eighties. The size of a large portable radio and the weight of a small child (21 pounds), this was not for the weak. The Nokia Mobira Senator soon became widely available. In the same year, Nokia introduced the DX200, which became the company’s first mobile hand held telephone.




1987
The Mobira Cityman was the first phone introduced by Nokia for general public use. Although this handheld device would have set you back around £4,000, it became very popular. In the same year, the GSM network was adopted as the European standard signal (Global System for Mobile communications). The next ten years would completely revolutionize the mobile world.


1992
It was the beginning of the nineties when British mobile telecommunications firms were looking at ways in which to bring mobile solutions to the UK. This resulted in the introduction of the Rabbit phone. This phone could only be used if the caller was within 100 metres of a rabbit sign (a transmitter). For a few years, these signs could be seen on shops, phone masts and in general public places.



With the Rabbit phone, only the caller could speak. The recipient had to receive the message via pager messaging.
The Rabbit phone only managed to gain 10,000 users at the height of its popularity and eventually died out. It is thought its demise was due to the rapid increase in popularity of the networks Cellnet and Vodaphone, which offered the talk back function.
 

1994-1999
By the late nineties, Nokia had introduced a few handsets, including the 2100 series and the 6110. These phones were responsible for the Nokia ringtone which is believed to be one of the most played music pieces of all time. It is estimated by Nokia that around 370 million of these handsets were sold within this period.

 





2000 Onwards
By the turn of the century, many people in the Western world had a mobile phone or access to one. By this time, phone companies were looking at ways in which to offer something more to their customers than just calls and texts. Beating one another on snake had become boring, so mobile phone providers were thinking of new and innovative ways in which to compete in an ever-evolving digital world. This included introducing cameras on mobiles and being able to access the Internet a few years later.

 




2007-Present
By 2007, Steve Jobs had revealed the iPhone. This Smartphone along with its competitor’s handsets have completely changed the way that we use phones. There isn’t much that Smartphones can’t do.  Whether it’s ordering a table at a restaurant, making and editing movies, organising your life or using social media; the Smartphone is an all-in-one for most people now and many couldn’t imagine life without it.