Cell phones are older than many people think. The first mobile phone call was made in 1973. Motorola’s executive Martin Cooper called competitors from Bell Labs to taunt them.
Read further to learn where and how mobile phone history has begun.
Once Upon a Time in New York
A white-collar guy in his 40s dialing a number on his phone is not much of a sight in Manhattan these days. But on April 3, 1973, passersby near the Hilton Hotel on 6th Avenue were truly startled, as Martin Cooper recalls.
He was holding in his hand a brick-sized object with keys and a long antenna. He pressed some keys, put the object up to his ears and mouth, and started talking. Without any cables connected to that brick of a device.
It’s hard to draw New Yorkers’ attention on the streets. They’ve seen a lot and mind their own business. Yet, even such a blase audience got their heads turned around at the sight of this historic event. They had never seen a phone working without any wires.
Actually, no one had seen that before. It was the first cell phone call ever made.
Motorola vs Bell Labs: The Rivalry Behind the First Mobile Call
Martin Cooper was Motorola’s head of communications at the time. He made the world’s first mobile phone call not only to test the new technology but also to taunt competitors from Bell Labs.
They thought that the future was car phones, the only portable phones available for the mass audience in 1973.
Cooper and his colleagues at Motorola believed that people should have phones at hand not only in their cars but everywhere.
Martin did not miss the opportunity to show the superiority of Motorola’s vision in an epic way. He addressed the first cellphone call in history to Bell Labs’ engineer Joel Engel.
As Cooper recalled in many interviews, he wasn’t shy to rub the rival’s nose in Motorola’s achievement. He said straight away that he was calling from the first handheld, portable, personal cellphone. A real cellphone unlike those you can only use in a car.
The Legacy of the First Mobile Phone Call
Motorola’s first mobile phone (1973) was 10x3x1.5 inches large and weighed nearly 2.5 pounds. That’s about 24x8x4 centimeters and 1.13 kilograms. And it wasn’t ready for mass production.
It took over 10 years for Motorola to finally release the first commercially available cellphone in 1984 (by the way, it was just seven years before the world’s first website went live).
The 1984 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X had to be charged for 10 hours for the sake of a 30-minute talk time. And it cost $3,995 back then. Today, it would be equivalent to over $11K.
Motorola had to go a long way from the 1973 cell phone call to bringing their technology to the market. The first cellphone call definitely was a source of inspiration during this journey.
With the first Motorola cell phone, Martin Cooper and his colleagues massively contributed to the tech industry’s advancement. Motorola remained the biggest player in the mobile phone market until overtaken by Nokia in 1998.
By the way, did you know that Nokia used to sell toilet paper and rubber boots before mobile phones? But that’s another story.
FAQ
When was the first mobile phone call made?
The first cellphone call was made on April 3, 1973.
Who made the first mobile phone call?
Martin Cooper made the first cellphone call while working as a head of communications at Motorola.
Where was the first mobile phone call made?
Motorola’s head of communications Martin Cooper made the first call from a portable, handheld cellphone in 1973. It happened next to the Hilton Hotel on 6th Avenue in Manhattan, New York.
Who received the first mobile phone call?
Martin Cooper called Joel Engel, an engineer at Bell Labs, Motorola’s rival company.
What did the first mobile phone look like?
The device from which Motorola’s executive Martin Cooper made the world’s first mobile call was 10x3x1.5 inches large and weighed nearly 2.5 pounds (24x8x4 centimeters and 1.13 kilograms). Cooper himself described the first mobile phone (1973) as brick-like.
What was the first mobile phone?
When making the first cellphone call in 1973, Martin Cooper used a prototype of the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. It was finally released as a commercially available product a decade later, in 1984.
The 1984 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X offered 30 minutes of talk time while its charging time was about 10 hours.
How much was the first mobile phone?
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X cost $3,995 when it was released in the US in 1984. Today, it would be equivalent to over $11K.
