The Cell Phone Changed The Lives Of Everyone On Earth Yet The Wireless Revolution Is Just Beginning 48 Years After The First Call Was Made On April 3

SAN DIEGO, March 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- April 3 is the 48th anniversary of the first call made in public on a cell phone. It happened on 6th Avenue at 52nd in New York City.

That call, made by the "father of the cell phone," Marty Cooper, called one of the "100 most important inventors in history," by TIME magazine, has unquestionably changed all of our lives.

The cell phone revolutionized how people communicate, freed people to connect with people, not places, without the constraints of the wired network. The cell phone led to the creation and growth of new industries. 

CUTTING THE CORD: The Cell Phone Has Transformed HUMANITY, by Cooper, published by Rosetta Books, $26.99, hardcover, $12.69 ebook, $17.99 audiobook, is the story of how it came to be.

It centers on a battle for control of how people communicate, involving government regulators, lobbyists, police, technology breakthroughs, failures, quartz, and a horse. At the center of that story is Martin Cooper, a legendary futurist. This book describes how his early life influenced the creation of the cell phone and how he persisted despite being told the idea was impractical, unmarketable and preposterous.

Industry skirmishes became a political war in Washington, a struggle to prevent a monopolistic company from dominating telecommunications. The drama crests in the first-ever public call made on a handheld, portable telephone—a cell phone. Despite that, the cell phone we know today almost didn't happen. The first working wireless phone was created after just three months of frantic effort driven by the deadline of an FCC hearing.

Without the vision of visionaries and engineers at Motorola, the last 40 years of history would be different. Their story is inspiring and instructive. After a 29-year career at Motorola, Cooper became an entrepreneur, helping launch companies dedicated to accelerating cell phone adoption.

The story of the cell phone has much to teach about innovation, strategy, and management. This book also relates Cooper's vision of the future of personal communications. He postulates that the story is far from finished, that we have only achieved a small fraction of the cell phone's potential impact.

The cell phone empowers people from all walks of life. It reshapes how children learn, how we collaborate. The cell phone is transforming medicine and healthcare, contributing to the eradication of disease, elimination of poverty, extension of life, and closely coupling human and artificial intelligence.

Cooper is a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he is a Life Trustee. He is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering and a recipient of the Marconi Prize "for being a wireless visionary who reshaped the concept of mobile communication."

Learn more at www.martycooper.com.

SOURCE Martin Cooper