Mobile telephony has radically transformed the world we live in, but this phenomenon did not emerge out of nowhere, but was the result of many years of technological advances and risky business bets. In this article we will see what they were. The first mobile phone companies, the true pioneers.
Because what seems so normal to us today, being able to make calls and establish connections to any place in the world from any place in the world, years ago was little less than a pipe dream. No one conceived of a telephone as anything other than a fixed device. Nobody except the minds that ran these companies.
Strictly speaking, The first functional mobile phone system was developed just after World War II., that is, about 80 years ago. However, we cannot speak of mobile telephony, as we know it today, until the 70s.
The first mobile phone that was marketed for sale to the public was the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, in 1983 (pictured above). From our current perspective, it was a heavy, ugly and bulky brick, but it was this model that marked a new era in the field of communication.
Motorola and AT&T: pioneers of mobile telephony
Although Motorola took its first steps in the business world selling radio sets a century ago, without a doubt the stellar moment of its history took place in 1973, when one of its engineers, Martin Cooper, made the first phone call from a mobile device.
That primitive mobile phone was 25 cm long and weighed more than 1 kilo. It can be considered the “grandfather” of today’s smartphones. The DynaTAC 8000X was marketed ten years later as a true luxury item, with a retail price of around $3.500. It was the first step in a long and successful journey.
Another of the first mobile phone companies that should be highlighted is AT&T (American Telephone & Telegraph). While Motorola manufactured mobile devices, this company dedicated itself to an equally important task: create the network infrastructure that enabled its operation.
It all began in Chicago in 1978, where AT&T built a system of radio towers that transmitted their signals to car antennas. That idea was later transferred to the field of mobile telephony, becoming, back in 1987, the first company to offer mobile phone services. At that time, limited only to the United States.
Vodafone and Ericsson: the arrival of mobile telephony in Europe
Vodafone was founded in 1984 as a division of Racal Electronics and quickly became the great leader in the European market and one of the first mobile phone companies on the old continent. It first launched its network in the United Kingdom and gradually extended it to Western European countries.
The key to Vodafone's success was the adoption of the GSM technology (Global System for Mobile Communications), destined to become the standard for mobile communications worldwide. The GSM network represented a great leap forward, offering a more efficient connection, with much higher sound quality and almost no interference.
In the heat of Vodafone's success, in the early 90s the Swedish company Ericsson decided to invest in the emerging technology of mobile telephony, thus becoming one of the first providers of mobile network infrastructure.
Not only that: Ericsson also invested in the production of mobile phones, almost monopolizing the market thanks to a series of models that achieved a simply fabulous number of sales. Among the most notable ones we must mention the Ericsson GH337, launched in 1993, one of the first to use GSM digital technology, which guaranteed users better call quality as well as greater coverage.
Unfortunately, despite being one of the first mobile phone companies in history, Ericsson was One of the brands that failed to adapt to the new timesWith the arrival of the first smartphones, it lost its place in the market and eventually disappeared.
The valuable legacy of the first mobile phone companies
These early mobile phone companies led a true revolution in the world of communications. Thanks to them, mobile phones were born and evolved into the sophisticated and lightweight smart devices we use today.
Motorola, AT&T, Vodafone, Ericsson (and also NTT DoCoMo in Japan and the Asian market), are companies that at one time played a fundamental role in the development of mobile telephony. They laid the foundations for the infrastructure and drove the development of the technologies we all use today. Without them, the first mobile phone companies, the world today would be very different. Worse or better, who knows, but certainly a world that would be less well connected.
Editor specialized in technology and internet issues with more than ten years of experience in different digital media. I have worked as an editor and content creator for e-commerce, communication, online marketing and advertising companies. I have also written on economics, finance and other sectors websites. My work is also my passion. Now, through my articles in Tecnobits, I try to explore all the news and new opportunities that the world of technology offers us every day to improve our lives.