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sale of software. Installing new software on a personal comput-
er during the last century was a cumbersome task that involved
physical disks or CDs, user manuals, and performing configura-
tion steps that often were hard to understand. Users also had
to be aware of frequent “patches” or updates needed in order to
keep the software running properly.
Software for mobile devices is very different. It comes in the
form of apps. Users of Apple, Android, and Windows mobile de-
vices can browse an app store with hundreds of thousands of
apps. Unlike traditional software many apps are free, and many
others cost only a few dollars. It takes only a couple of touches to
buy, download, and install an app. Running an app is just as easy.
Any time an app is updated the new version can be installed with
just a touch or even automatically. Although all modern mobile
Buying the First Cell Phone
Even way back in 1984 one could buy a cell phone—that is, if one had $3,995
to spare (or about $9,025 in 2015 dollars). That was the price for a Motorola
DynaTAC 8000X, the rst commercially available cell phone. It certainly would
not t in a pocket, though. The device measured 13 by 1.75 by 3.5 inches (33
x 4.5 x 8.9 cm) and weighed a hefty 28 ounces (795 g). It had a battery life of
only thirty minutes. It had only one use—to make and receive phone calls. Paul
Gudonis, the CEO of Ameritech, which was building the rst cellular network in
the Chicago area at the time, said market research suggested that cell phone
buyers would be “a select group of entrepreneurs, doctors, real estate agents,
construction company owners and large company executives.”
It would be more than a decade before most teenagers and their parents
would have cell phones, but the devices caught on rapidly with businesspeople
and workers who had to go out into the eld where there might not be a landline
phone for miles. Motorola’s Rudolf Krolopp, who designed the DynaTAC and later
devices, noted that “we didn’t design them for teenagers—well, unless it was a
teenager with $4,000.”
Quoted in Stewart Wolpin, “The First Cellphone Went on Sale 30 Years Ago for $4,000,” Mashable.com, March 13,
2014.
