A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
On April 3, 1973, the first handheld portable telephone was demonstrated for reporters on a New York City street corner as Motorola executive Martin Cooper called Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.
Calling from Motorola’s DynaTAC phone while standing in front of the New York Hilton, Martin Cooper called the head of research at Bell Labs — Motorola’s competitor to build the first cellphone, according to an article by CNET.
Though the call was first made in 1973, mobile phones didn’t go on sale until 1984.
According to news reports of the day, “from the start, mobile phones were an even larger investment than today. A DynaTAC 8000x cost $3,995 initially with a $50 monthly fee. Additional costs came from 40 cents-per-minute voice calls during peak time or 24 cents in off-peak times.”
During that time of higher costs in the 1980s, far fewer people owned cellphones. Today, cellphone costs are built into the average American’s monthly budget.
Now, 52 years after that first phone call, they are everywhere.
Here are some stories from Deseret News archives about the history of handheld phones, cellphones and smartphones:
“First cellphone was 2-pound, $3,995 brick”
“First cellphone call was made 40 years ago on a $3,995 phone”
“Opinion: Seeing smartphone addiction for what it is”
“Cellphones don’t cause brain cancer: WHO study”
“Perspective: How to make smartphones and apps safer for kids”
“Milestones in telephone history”
