Timeline: History Of The Telephone/Cell-Phone

1876

Bell telephone-Wooden Hand Crank Phone

Alex Graham Bell creates the first phone. The first words spoken on the telephone were Bell to Watson, “Mr. Watson--come here--I want to see you” Bell was the first to file a patent for the telephone. Used knowledge of electricity used with the telegraph.

1877

Bell Telephone Company Was Formed

1890

Candlestick telephone

The first lighter desktop models, called candlestick telephones, were produced by several different people and companies. The first person to invent the candlestick phone is often disputed and is attributed to either Almon Stowger or the Stromberg-Carlson company. The candlestick phone featured a mouthpiece at the top of the stand (the “candlestick” part) and a receiver that was held to the ear during a call.

1905

Stowger

First automatic telephone exchange in order to eliminate the need for an intermediary operator

1925

Rotary Telephone

The Frankfurt is created. First rotary telephone

1927

DeskTop Cradle Telephone (Model 102/202)

Western Electric’s model 102 telephone was the first commercial telephone set where the receiver and transmitter were combined into one handset.

1937

Watson Electric Model

It was the first complete phone produced by Western Electric as a separate subscriber set. The phone was often featured in movies and television shows, such as I Love Lucy – this is why the 302 is sometimes called the “Lucy phone” by collectors.

1950

Watson Electric Model 500

The most iconic American phone as nearly every home in the country had one at some time.
Very durable

1959

The Princess Telephone

It was the first phone to be specifically advertised to women, which is why the phone was slim and feminine-looking.

1960

Mobile Phone For Cars

In Sweden, the first automatic mobile phone system for cars was launched.

1965

Trimline telephone

compact and stylish. The phone’s dial was on the underside of the handset instead of the phone’s base, like earlier models. This made the phone smaller and easier to use.

1973

First Mobile Phone-Motorola DynaTAC 8000X

The first-ever mobile phone call was made by Dr. Martin Cooper, a Motorola employee, in New York using a prototype Dyna TAC phone. The phone weighed over a kilogram and took 10 hours to charge! It cost $4000.

1979

1G network

Japan released the first-ever commercially available automated cellular network, it was however only available in cars. We now call this “1G”.

1989

First flip cell phone invented

Motorola microTAC9800X

1992

First Smart Phone Invented

The first smartphone, created by IBM. It was called the Simon Personal Communicator (SPC).

1994

first touch screen phone out for purchase

The IBM Simon is created and is considered to be the first smartphone and touch screen. The first sign of what we call “apps”

1999

Browsing the web

WAP launches the Nokia 7110 making it the first phone capable of browsing the web

2000

First phone with camera

The Sharp J-SHO4 becomes the first cell phone with a camera built-in.

2001

Full-colour displays

Full-colour displays start to hit the market first with the Mitsubishi Trium Eclipse.

2002

First Blackberry

The Blackberry 5810 is created, revolutionizing the telephone industry as well as introducing the world to the BlackBerry Brand.

2003

3G

The implementation of 3G took download speeds up

2007

The iPhone

The first iPhone is created by Steve Jobs and Apple. The iPhone allowed for your phone to be an iPod, a telephone, and was able to have games known as "apps."