History of Cell Phones

[Feadoggie]

Dale, I don't know if you've looked at this site yet but it could add some data to your thinking.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1315/teens- ... ell-phones

It does remind me of this little ditty though.

Feadoggie

[ytliek]

Well, I don't agree that Columbine means that a cell phone for every child is necessary, but I understand your point.

I'm not sure the date is late, though.

Maybe I should've said that Columbine HS (1999 or so) was the defining moment cellphone provider's used as a "marketing tool" to justify the "gotta hav'em" and it may have taken alittle while for everyone to "buy in" to the idea. The cell companies used "safety" as the reason for parents & children to be connected 24/7. But...

The cellphone provider's brilliance in everyone's hav'in'em (humans=connected=safety) has lead to further "marketing profits" from cross media interactivity, i.e., TV: American Idol (all others too) call-in on cell to vote... brilliant! Those aren't free-calls, maybe within a callin' plan, but, not free. Even the local TV newscasts have implemented the cellphone call-in and "tell us what you think" WTNH (and that may have started way back with cooking recipes on the News). I won't even mention video games from cellphone, MS, FB, or Twit. Connectedness: data-gathering for numbers/people/customers=profits, all interactively somehow staying connected to the point of "safety"addiction". (like the whistle)

What I'd like to see included with every cellphone nanomoment/interactivity is the "failure rate" whether equipment, dropout, or interference. The cellprovider's oughta talk about fix'en failures, other industries would never get away with it. Automobiles that didn't work 30-40% of the time and we'd all be walkin' healthy.

[Dale]

I don't think that can be true of the UK, even if it's true of the States. When we got them for our boys, then aged 11, 13 and 15, in 2000, we were definitely at least a couple of years behind where almost all of their friends were.

Ok. Thanks.

[MTGuru]

A few data points from my own personal experience.

In 1990 I began renting (yes, renting) cell phones for my business for occasional situational needs. These were suitcase-type phones weighing around 20 lbs, not the kind of thing the average person would carry. Pagers were the norm for personal mobile contact.

By 1994, the top management of my company carried cell phones, so I bought my first - an Audiovox, then a Motorola MicroTAC. All still analog, of course. And definitely a prestige thing. Teen use would have been rare except among the wealthy.

In 1997 came the Qualcomm Q Phone, my first digital (CDMA), with basic texting and internet capability. Coverage was spotty, even though San Diego's infrastructure was better than most, thanks to being the home of Qualcomm and CDMA.

In fact, I think adoption closely tracked the build-out of 2G infrastructure in local areas, and the state of the hodge-podge of the four competing systems: analog, CDMA (Verizon), PCS (Sprint), and GSM (Cingular/ATT).

The Europeans were way ahead of the US in this, thanks to the early adoption of the GSM standard. A memorable moment came in 1998 when I was attending the CeBIT show in Hannover. I was waiting for a stall in the men's room. And from behind the closed doors of the 20 or so stalls, all you could hear was people talking and phones ringing (the Nokia song!). I'd guess that 90% of attendees had phones, far higher than I'd have expected in the US at that time. And companies like Orange Mobile were really pushing mobile phones as a universal appliance, not just for elites.

By 2000, I remember discussing the phenomenon of texting with my European friends, and the (still mostly European) problem of kids being obsessed with texting. Over here, the phone companies were just beginning to really push texting as the big thing in their TV advertising, targeted partly at kids, and "family plans", as the business market became saturated.

If I had to pick a pivotal year for the teen cell phone phenom in the US, it would probably be 2000. And the trajectory of subsequent TV advertising reinforced that by focusing heavily on texting, integrated music features, and video. Since then, with the exception of certain aspects of smart phones (e.g. the business focus of Blackberry), my impression is that teen and youth phone use has driven adult patterns, not vice versa. Hook them early, stoke peer pressure, and you have a market for life.

Today I don't own a cell phone. Early adopter, early un-adopter. I'm way ahead of the curve.

[ytliek]

If I had to pick a pivotal year for the teen cell phone phenom in the US, it would probably be 2000.

my impression is that teen and youth phone use has driven adult patterns, not vice versa. Hook them early, stoke peer pressure, and you have a market for life.

Today I don't own a cell phone. Early adopter, early un-adopter. I'm way ahead of the curve.

I agree completely... year, hook, and sinker!

I do own a cellphone today (late adopter on a whim), but, monthly calls RARELY exceeds a dozen, maybe a "baker's"

p.s. my observation of the movie industry saw the "fast food" establishments as marketing "channels of distribution" targeting the children, put a few movie character toys in there and a parent couldn't drive past without stopping to P/U the weekly collectible with the kids screaming so loud. Hook'em young and ya gotta customer fer life (well said). But, that has all carried over to the cellphones. Kinda makes ya wonder who's running the house, dad, mom, kid? It is the kid quite often.

[Dale]

I carry a personal cell phone (an Android) and another smart phone issued to me by my workplace, which we carry mostly because it has a push-to-talk radio system in it. Most of the time during the work day, I have an iPad with me. When I'm in the office, I have a desktop computer and a laptop on my desk. Next to one of my 2 computer monitors at work I have a very small television set which is usually tuned to my employer's cable tv station (I work for a public k-12 school system.) During much of the evening, I am using a laptop to read and edit poetry and to do google searches on various things I encounter while simultaneously watching TV. I'm thinking I may be a bit over-connected.