Cell Phones and Nerds

Since we have been looking at the development of technology and nerds I thought it was only appropriate to find some information regarding cell phones, their development and nerds along the way. In doing this research I found that cell phones first were discovered in 1973, by an employee of Motorla by the name of Dr. Martin Cooper, a rather nerdy guy who earned a degree in electrical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Dr. Cooper was hired by Motorola to develop portable products and along came the cell phone. Not readily available to the masses, in fact they did not even go public until 1977. The first phone was what we would consider today a dinosaur, as displayed below, with it's features:

Name: Motorola Dyna-Tac


Size: 9 x 5 x 1.75 inches

Weight: 2.5 pounds

Display: None

                    Number of Circuit Boards: 30

                    Talk time: 35 minutes

                    Recharge Time: 10 hours

                    Features: Talk, listen, dial
 
These phones were expensive and did not allow for the common day person to own one. It took 37 years for the cell phone to become a common ficture in the life of the consumer. In fact, the cell phone industry 25 years ago was a 3 million dollar a year business. Today, it has grown into a 30 billion dollar a year success!
 
Looking at this picture it would be impossible not to look at the other nerds who influenced the success of the cell phone business. With this in mind it was impossible not to fast foward and look at the development of the I-Phone. First released in 2007, the I Phone instantly became a success because people loved what Apple had done with this phone. It was not without a nerd at the forefront, however: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, both self proclaimed nerds, once again changed the way technology was used with the release of this phone:
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The technology of the cell phone and the progression of it alike has all been at the hands of nerds. Often picked on and often disregarded, it is the nerds who have allowed the masses to enjoy the technology of today. What a concept! I have attached some news articles for you to read if you are interested in learning more about how this great technology came into our lives!
 
http://cellular.co.za/cellphone_inventor.htm
 
http://cellphones.org/cell-phone-history.html