Three years and a number of devices after the BlackBerry 7200 series, Steve Jobs announced the Apple iPhone to the public in January 2007. In June of the same year, the first iPhone was released to the public.  Apple claimed to be reinventing the phone, with its multi-touch screen, easy-to-use conference calling, and incomparable messaging and email services.  Since its release 8 years ago, the iPhone has gotten consistently thinner with the release of each model.  The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus that we know today are among the fastest, most user friendly devices on the market (or so says Apple).

What most may not know is that at the time of the iPhone release, Android was also working on its operating system.  What was and still is novel about the Android operating system is that it is open source, allowing for developers and manufacturers to have some say in how the system looks on their phones.

What began as a startup, Android was picked up by Google in 2005 for a reported $50 million.  At first, the Android system was an operating system alone, but soon after the release of the iPhone, the minds behind it realized that they needed to have a concrete, mobile platform.  They launched the HTC Dream in late 2008, with T-Mobile as its carrier.

The greatest difference between the iPhone and Android systems is that the iPhone is only available as a singular package, completely controlled by Apple; whereas the Android system is available on a range of devices from a large number of manufacturers.  Interestingly enough, while there always seems to be hype about the iPhone, Google’s Android has authority in the market, globally powering about 85% of cellular devices compared to Apple’s 11%.

With all this in mind, what is in store for the future of mobile telephony? What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.

Shortly after the release of the first Blackberry device the term ‘Smartphone’ started to linger in the mobile airwaves, starting with Ericsson’s first Smartphone, the R380s in 2000.  This new Ericsson phone, teamed up with Symbian technology, was the true forefather of what we see as the Smartphone today.

Ericsson’s report releasing the device defines the term ‘Smartphone’: “The term Smartphone has been coined to describe devices which, while being primarily a mobile phone, incorporate elements of functions found in paper-based personal organizer systems or in modern electronic personal digital assistants (PDA)”.

The Ericsson R380s took the face of the mobile phone to a new level – with a standard telephone keypad on the outside, which could be flipped out to expose an inner touchscreen.  This was reminiscent of the IBM Simon, but fared better on the market.  The touch screen enabled a number of features including text messaging, email, and limited web browsing – much like the features we come to take for granted today on our modern Smartphone

What most people would regard as the first step towards the modern Smartphone is the release of the 2003 RIM Blackberry 7200 series.  This device had the beginnings of the signature look and feel of future Blackberry devices.  Aside from its role as telephone, the main purpose of the new Blackberry was to enable mobile emailing.

In their 2004 Annual Report, Blackberry confirmed an incredible user growth from approx. 534,000 users in 2003 to over a million in 2004.  Blackberry positioned itself as a leader in wireless communication, especially in a world where business people are constantly on the go.  With a reach of 50 networks in 30 countries, RIM’s technology allowed its users to have wireless freedom around the world.

Since then, RIM has soared to what many believe to be its peak and plunged into near-bankruptcy.  Still, to this day we see the Blackberry brand being revitalized to trying to keep itself afloat – in a world where the QWERTY keyboard has gone from external hardware to on-screen, touch only, and most people don’t hear anything other than Apple and Android.

Have we got you hooked? Come back and check out our next post where we delve into the iPhone and Android devices.

The first commercial mobile phone was released in 1983 by Motorola.  The DynaTAC 8000X was nothing like the mobile and smart phones we are used to seeing on the market today.  It was big, had only about 6 hours of battery life, and could only store 30 phone numbers.  It was used essentially only for making phone calls and cost around $4000!

Over the last three decades we have seen an incredible growth in the mobile phone industry.  Radiolinja (a Finnish company, now Elisa) enabled the first commercial mobile call in 1991, and the first data enabled call in 1993 (2G network) on a Nokia handset.

An interesting first appearance of a cellular device with more than just calling capabilities was the IBM Simon, released in 1994.  This device was phone, email, and fax capable, and came with a number of set features such as an alarm and calendar, among others.  This device could also be connected to regular phone jack to make calls.  Unfortunately for IBM, this device stayed on the market for less than a year.

A few years later Nokia released the first handset with a full QWERTY keyboard, the Nokia 9000i Communicator.  This device allowed for the integration of text messaging into the world of mobile telephony.

Soon after, the first Blackberry device was introduced by Research In Motion (RIM) in 1999.  The Blackberry 850 was quite the innovation.  It had a full QWERTY keyboard and could support pages and email exchanges.  It even had the capacity to support limited Web browsing.

In 1999, wi-fi had just been making a mark in the telecoms market.  From then on, it seems that the mobile industry really started making it’s mark in the world.  More and more handsets and full QWERTY keyboard mobile devices were being sold to consumers, leading to a rise in communication.

That’s all we have for you today. Don’t forget to check back to see our next installment of “A Short History of Mobile”.  In the meantime, check us out on Twitter: @tfusa_inc !