U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for October 13

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Oct 13, 2014, 12:01 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

BIRTH OF CELL PHONES

Profile America — Monday, October 13^th. With the national median age being 37 years, a bare majority of the country's population can remember life in what might strike young people as a bleak, dark and difficult age. Practically unimaginable today, there was a time when the ubiquitous cell phone didn't exist. Around 45 years ago, Amtrak offered a version of cellular technology, using payphones on its Metroliners. The first modern cell phone was introduced on this date in 1983 in Chicago. It was demonstrated in a call to Alexander Graham Bell's grandson, in Berlin, Germany at the time. In 1990, there were just over 5 million people in the country with cell phones. By 2000, that number was nearly 110 million. Now, 89 percent of American households have cell phones. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Sources:
http://www.privateline.com/PCS/metroliner.htm
http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=1214
http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/395/October-13-1983-
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1149.xls t.1148
http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p70-136.pdf p. 10

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau