Index

The Phone

  • First Telephone

    First Telephone
    Alexander Graham Bell spoke the first words into a telephone, saying, "Ms. Watson, come here, I want to see you." This telephone was the first bi-direcitonal electronic transmission. Not only did this date become the birth of the telephone, but this date is also the the death of the multiple telegraph.
  • Bell Telephone Company

    Bell Telephone Company
    In July of 1877, no exact date give, the Bell Telephone Company was created by Gardiner Hubbard.
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    The Candlestick

    The candlestick phone was popular between the 1890s and 1940s. The mouthpiece was created in a shape resembling a candlestick and the ear piece was to be placed by your ear during the phone call.
  • The Rotary

    The Rotary
    The rotary telephone became popular sometime in the year 1923, after the candlestick model. In order to work the rotary telephone, you had to rotate the dial to the number you wanted, then release.
  • Answering Machine

    Answering Machine
    The first commercially successful answering machine was created by Joseph Zimmerman and George W. Danner sometime in 1949. This machine was called the Electronic Secretary. The answering machine concept was originally invented in 1898, known as the telegraphone or the wire recorder.
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    The Push Button

    After the rotary phone started dying out, the push button phone became popular. The push button phone had 12 keys that were pushed in order to dial.
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    Answering Machine

    During the 1960s, the answering machine was popular using a cassette tape to record messages.
  • The Push Button

    The Push Button
    On November 18, 1963, the first electronic push button system was offered to Bell Telephone customers. The push button phone required users to press 1 of the 12 keys in order to dial numbers to make a phone call.
  • First Cell Phone

    The first cell phone call was made by Martin Cooper in 1973. This cell phone weighed 1.75 pounds, had 30 minutes of talk time, and cost around $3,995. In 1994, the first commerically available phone was released. This was the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X
  • Portable Phone

    Portable Phone
    Sometime in the 1980s, portable, also known as cordless, phones were discovered. With a portable phone, you were able to talk on the phone from anywhere in the house, similar to a cell phone.
  • First Flip Phone

    First Flip Phone
    The first successful flip phone was released in 1996 and was called the Motorola StarTAC. This design was known as a milestone in the trend toward smaller phones.
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    BlackBerry

    The BlackBerry was the most popular phone in the 2000s. The BlackBerry was also well known as the "business phone."
  • iPhone

    iPhone
    The first Apple iPhone was released on June 29th, of 2007. The iPhone included touch screen, sensors, and a sleek design.