In October 1983 Bob Barnett, a former president of Ameritech Mobile Communications, telephoned Alexander Graham Bell's grandson from a Chrysler convertible at an American football field in Chicago. It was the world's first commercial mobile phone call.
We can only guess the topic of conversation but it is a safe bet that neither expected the call to change the lives of 4.1bn phone users worldwide.
Over the past decade mobiles have undergone another revolution. Phones are no longer just devices to make and receive calls and texts, they are also for checking emails, Facebook and Twitter as well as browsing the internet.
News last week that Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, is to launch a new "super-smartphone" and start making mini-laptops, is the dawn of a third revolution, which could lead to a blurring of the lines between phones and laptops.
Smartphones such as Apple's iPhone and Research in Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry, are so powerful, users are finding themselves using their phones to check emails and the latest football scores even when their laptop is lying to hand.
"Sometimes it's just too much effort to lift the lid of your laptop, when you're phone is almost as quick at browsing the web," says Mike Brook, editor of T3 technology magazine.
Apple, which appears to have almost psychic powers in predicting the next big technology trends, took a gamble two years ago by branching out into mobile phones following the phenomenal success of its iPod music player.
So far the company has sold 21.2m iPhones worldwide, including more than 1m in the UK.
Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, highlighted the success of the iPhone in helping the company achieve record profits of $1.23bn (£747m) for the three months to the end of June - Apple's most successful non-Christmas quarter in its 32-year history.
Following Apple's success, a string of other computer companies, including Dell, are entering the smart-phone market.
Dell's founder, Michael Dell, had previously ruled out ever entering the mobile phone business because Nokia's 40pc market share would be too hard to crack.
But earlier this month he confirmed long-running rumours that Dell plans to launch a smartphone running on Google's Android operating system.
The lure of big profits achieved by Apple and RIM has also attracted some unexpected technology brands into the smartphone mix.
Garmin, the satellite navigation company, launched a touchscreen mobile, which specialises in navigation, in the Far East this summer. The device is expected in Europe next year.
Despite other new challengers, including Palm's Pre and Taiwan's HTC Hero, the iPhone remains "the phone to beat" and all the traditional mobile phone makers – Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, LG and Samsung – are desperately struggling to compete.
Smartphone sales grew by 27pc in the second quarter according to analysts at Gartner, the research house, and are expected to account for up to 70pc of all phones sold in Europe by 2012.
At the same time sales of middle-of-the-range phones are expected to drop for only the second time since the industry began. So, the established players need to act fast to bring out serious challengers or risk losing the market to the upstarts with PC-pedigree.
Nokia had been caught sleeping at the wheel without any handset close to the iPhone and its hastily-produced N97 has been described as a "dud" by experts. The Finnish company has seen its market share drop from 39.5pc to 36.8pc.
But Nokia is fighting back. Last week it revealed its latest attempt to regain ground lost to Apple's iPhone. Nokia said its touchscreen N900 will hit the shops in October priced at about £400, although it could be much cheaper depending on contract terms.
Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's executive vice president of markets, said: "What we have is something that is fusing the power of the computer, the internet and the mobile phone, and it is great to see that it is evolving in exciting ways."
Nokia's chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo denies that Apple is dictating the company's strategy. He said Nokia is switching the business model away from mobile phone sales towards services such as mobile banking, games and music.
"It's not simply fighting against your competitors like Apple, it's claiming new ground. It's claiming no-man's land," he said.
However, the company is pushing into the backyard of its PC-making rivals by launching its own mini-laptops into the fiercely competitive but fast-growing netbook market.
Nokia said it will provide more information on its Booklet 3G – which is just 10 inches wide, less than one inch thick and weighs only 1.25kg – at its glitzy Nokia World conference in Stuttgart this week.
The company, which used to make everything from Wellington boots to gas masks, pulled out of the PC market in 1991 after it lost ground to larger rivals.
"This is Nokia fighting back a little against Apple and Google's invasion into its territory," said Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner. "It's a clever move by Nokia as it can use its established route to market through mobile phone operators and shops."
She said the mini-laptop would probably be sold as a second contract alongside a Nokia mobile phone, a plan which would be popular with mobile phone operators looking to expand customers' data use.
"These moves by Nokia just highlight how the mobile and laptop markets are converging," Mr Brook said. "No one ever thought the marriage of the phone and laptop would come together, but it looks like they just might."
Source: Telegraph
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