Mobile Phone Creator Reflects on How We Use Our Portable Devices

While I was at the Brooklyn 5G Summit, I had the chance to catch up with Martin Cooper, who while working for Motorola led the team that created the first portable mobile phone in 1973 and, using that device, made the first mobile call. Cooper was at the event to deliver a keynote, and, as he put it, remind the engineers to put people first when creating new technology.

I asked him if he ever anticipated the sheer amount of data that moves through today's mobile phone networks, and he said he never envisioned many of the ways we all use our phones today. He reminded me that in 1973 we had no Internet, no PCs, and no digital cameras. Instead, the mobile phone was created with just voice and a bit of texting in mind.

Cooper noted that he and other backers of mobile phone technology had huge battles with AT&T just to get handhelds instead of phones that were tethered to our cars. (At the time, AT&T controlled almost all of the phone networks in the U.S.; facing a Justice Department antitrust suit, it consented to be broken up into seven regional carriers, which have since largely recombined into today's AT&T and Verizon.)

Cooper said he was pleased to see so many people using mobile phones, but noted that "a couple billion people worldwide don't have connectivity." He said he supports efforts to get more of these people online.

In general, he urged engineers to think more about how people will use products, and said that the goal should be the "application of science to create the products and services that make people's lives better. "

Here's PCMag's take on the history of the mobile phone.