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The very first "phone" was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876.
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In 1877-78, the first telephone line was constructed, the first switchboard was created and the first telephone exchange was in operation.
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After the first commercial telephone exchange was installed in 1878, the need for an automated, user-controlled method of directing a telephone call became apparent. Addressing the technical shortcomings, Almon Brown Strowger invented a telephone dial in 1891.
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In 1917, Finnish inventor Eric Tigerstedt filed a patent for a "pocket-size folding telephone with a very thin carbon microphone".
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The first handheld cellular mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing 2 kilograms.
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The first handheld cellular mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing 2 kilograms. The first commercial automated cellular network analog was launched in Japan by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone in 1979.
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The IBM Simon was the first phone with a touchscreen in 1992 — it’s also referred to as the first “smartphone,” though the term was not yet coined. A few competitors came out in the early '90s, but most mobile devices with touchscreens were more like PDAs.
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In 2007, Apple released the most innovative touchscreen technology anyone had yet seen. The iPhone interface is completely touch-based, including the notorious virtual keyboard. Apple's line of iPhones led to other devices like the iPod Touch and the iPad.
