48 Years After the First Cell Phone Call, the Wireless Revolution Begins

April 3rd is the 48th anniversary of the first call made in public—6th Avenue at 52nd in NYC—on a cell phone.

That call, made by “father of the cell phone” Marty Cooper, has unquestionably changed all of our lives.

The cell phone revolutionized how people communicate, freeing people to connect with others without the constraints of the wired network. It even led to the creation and growth of new industries.

CUTTING THE CORD: The Cell Phone Has Transformed HUMANITY, by Cooper, is the story of how it came to be.

It centers on a battle for control of how people communicate, involving government regulators, lobbyists, police, technology breakthroughs, failures, quartz, and a horse. At the center of that story is Martin Cooper, a legendary futurist. This book describes how his early life influenced the creation of the cell phone and how he persisted despite being told the idea was impractical, unmarketable, and preposterous.

Industry skirmishes became a political war in Washington, a struggle to prevent a monopolistic company from dominating telecommunications. The drama crests in the first-ever public call made on a handheld, portable telephone—a cell phone. Despite that, the cell phone we know today almost didn’t happen. The first working wireless phone was created after just three months of frantic effort driven by the deadline of an FCC hearing.

Without the visionaries and engineers at Motorola, the last 40 years of history would be different. Their story is inspiring and instructive. After a 29-year career at Motorola, Cooper became an entrepreneur, helping launch companies dedicated to accelerating cell phone adoption.

The story of the cell phone has much to teach about innovation, strategy, and management. This book also relates Cooper’s vision of the future of personal communications. He postulates that the story is far from finished, that we have only achieved a small fraction of the cell phone’s potential impact.

The cell phone empowers people from all walks of life. It reshapes how children learn and how we collaborate. The cell phone is transforming medicine and healthcare, contributing to the eradication of disease, elimination of poverty, extension of life, and closely coupling human and artificial intelligence.

Edited by Maryssa Gordon, Senior Editor, Price of Business Digital Network