"Cell Phone" redirects here. For the film, see Cell Phone (film). For the Handphone film, see Handphone (film).
A mobile phone (also known as a cellular phone, cell phone, and a hand phone) is a phone that can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link while moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile phone operator, allowing access to the public telephone network. By contrast, a cordless telephone is used only within the short range of a single, private base station.
In addition to telephony, modern mobile phones also support a wide variety of otherservices such as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications (infrared, Bluetooth), business applications, gaming and photography. Mobile phones that offer these and more general computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones.
The first hand-held cell phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell[1][2] and Dr Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing around 2.2 pounds (1 kg).[3] In 1983, the DynaTAC 8000x was the first to be commercially available. From 1990 to 2011, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew from 12.4 million to over 6 billion, penetrating about 87% of the global population and reaching thebottom of the economic pyramid.[4][5][6][7]
Contents
[hide]History
Main article: History of mobile phones
A hand-held mobile radiotelephone is an old dream of radio engineering. A particularly vivid and in many ways accurate prediction was presented by Arthur C. Clarke in a 1959 essay, where he envisioned a "personal transceiver, so small and compact that every man carries one." He wrote: "the time will come when we will be able to call a person anywhere on Earth merely by dialing a number." Such a device would also, in Clarke's vision, include means for global positioning so that "no one need ever again be lost." Later, in Profiles of the Future, he predicted the advent of such a device taking place in the mid-1980s.[8]
Early predecessors of cellular phones included analog radio communications from ships and trains. The race to create truly portable telephone devices began after World War II, with developments taking place in many countries. The advances in mobile telephony have been traced in successive generations from the early "0G" (zeroth generation) services like the Bell System's Mobile Telephone Service and its successor, Improved Mobile Telephone Service. These "0G" systems were not cellular, supported few simultaneous calls, and were very expensive.
The first handheld mobile cell phone was demonstrated by Motorola in 1973. The first commercial automated cellular network was launched in Japan by NTT in 1979. In 1981, this was followed by the simultaneous launch of the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.[9] Several other countries then followed in the early to mid-1980s. These first generatiion ("1G") systems could support far more simultaneous calls, but still used analog technology.
In 1991, the second generation (2G) digital cellular technology was launched in Finland by Radiolinja on the GSM standard, which sparked competition in the sector, as the new operators challenged the incumbent 1G network operators.
Ten years later, in 2001, the third generation (3G) was launched in Japan by NTT DoCoMo on the WCDMA standard.[10]This was followed by 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G enhancements based on the high-speed packet access (HSPA) family, allowingUMTS networks to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity.
By 2009, it had become clear that, at some point, 3G networks would be overwhelmed by the growth of bandwidth-intensive applications like streaming media.[11] Consequently, the industry began looking to data-optimized 4th-generation technologies, with the promise of speed improvements up to 10-fold over existing 3G technologies. The first two commercially available technologies billed as 4G were the WiMAX standard (offered in the U.S. by Sprint) and the LTEstandard, first offered in Scandinavia by TeliaSonera.
Features
Main article: Mobile phone features
See also: Smartphone
All mobile phones have a number of features in common, but manufacturers also try to differentiate their own products by implementing additional functions to make them more attractive to consumers. This has led to great innovation in mobile phone development over the past 20 years.
The common components found on all phones are:
- A battery, providing the power source for the phone functions.
- An input mechanism to allow the user to interact with the phone. The most common input mechanism is a keypad, but touch screens are also found in some high-end smartphones.
- A screen which echoes the user's typing, displays text messages, contacts and more.
- Basic mobile phone services to allow users to make calls and send text messages.
- All GSM phones use a SIM card to allow an account to be swapped among devices. Some CDMA devices also have a similar card called a R-UIM.
- Individual GSM, WCDMA, iDEN and some satellite phone devices are uniquely identified by an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.
Low-end mobile phones are often referred to as feature phones, and offer basic telephony. Handsets with more advanced computing ability through the use of native software applications became known as smartphones.
Several phone series have been introduced to address a given market segment, such as the RIM BlackBerry focusing on enterprise/corporate customer email needs; the Sony-Ericsson 'Walkman' series of music/phones and 'Cybershot' series of camera/phones; the Nokia Nseries of multimedia phones, the Palm Pre the HTC Dream and the Apple iPhone.
Text messaging
Main article: SMS
The most commonly used data application on mobile phones is SMS text messaging. The first SMS text message was sent from a computer to a mobile phone in 1992 in the UK, while the first person-to-person SMS from phone to phone was sent in Finland in 1993.
The first mobile news service, delivered via SMS, was launched in Finland in 2000, and subsequently many organizations provided "on-demand" and "instant" news services by SMS.
SIM card
Main articles: Subscriber Identity Module and Removable User Identity Module
GSM feature phones require a small microchip called a Subscriber Identity Module or SIM card, to function. The SIM card is approximately the size of a small postage stamp and is usually placed underneath the battery in the rear of the unit. The SIM securely stores the service-subscriber key (IMSI) and the Ki used to identify and authenticate the user of the mobile phone. The SIM card allows users to change phones by simply removing the SIM card from one mobile phone and inserting it into another mobile phone or broadband telephony device.
The first SIM card was made in 1991 by Munich smart card maker Giesecke & Devrient for the Finnish wireless network operator Radiolinja.[citation needed]
Multi-card hybrid phones
A hybrid mobile phone can hold up to four SIM cards. SIM and RUIM cards may be mixed together to allow both GSM and CDMA networks to be accessed.[12][13]
From 2010 onwards they became popular in India and Indonesia and other emerging markets,[14] attributed to the desire to obtain the lowest on-net calling rate. In Q3 2011, Nokia shipped 18 million of its low cost dual SIM phone range in an attempt to make up lost ground in the higher end smartphone market.[15]
Kosher phones
There are Jewish orthodox religious restrictions which standard mobile telephones do not meet. To fulfill this demand, phones without Internet access, text messaging or cameras are required.[16] These restricted phones are known as kosherphones and have rabbinical approval for use in Israel and elsewhere by observant Orthodox Jews. Some are even approved for use by essential workers (such as health, security and public services) on the sabbath, even though use of any electrical device is restricted.[17]
Although these phones are intended to prevent immodesty, some vendors report good sales to adults who prefer the simplicity of the devices.
Mobile phone operators
Main article: Mobile phone operator
The world's largest individual mobile operator by subscribers is China Mobile with over 500 million mobile phone subscribers.[18] Over 50 mobile operators have over 10 million subscribers each, and over 150 mobile operators had at least one million subscribers by the end of 2009.[19] In February 2010, there were six billion mobile phone subscribers, a number that is expected to grow.[4]
Manufacturers
Prior to 2010, Nokia was the market leader. However, since then competition emerged in the Asia Pacific region with brands such as Micromax, Nexian, and i-Mobile and chipped away at Nokia's market share. Android powered smartphones also gained momentum across the region at the expense of Nokia. In India, their market share also dropped significantly to around 31 percent from 56 percent in the same period. Their share was displaced by Chinese and Indian vendors of low-end mobile phones.[20]
In Q1 2012, based on Strategy Analytics, Samsung surpassed Nokia, selling 93.5 million units and 82.7 million units, respectively. Standard & Poor's has also downgraded Nokia to 'junk' status at BB+/B with negative outlook due to high loss and still declined with growth of Lumia smartphones was not sufficient to offset a rapid decline in revenue from Symbian-based smartphones over the next few quarters.[21]
| Top Five Worldwide Total Mobile Phone Vendors, 2013 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Manufacturer | Gartner[22] | IDC[23] |
| 1 | Samsung | 24.6% | 24.5% |
| 2 | Nokia | 13.9% | 13.8% |
| 3 | Apple Inc. | 8.3% | 8.4% |
| 4 | LG | 3.8% | 3.8% |
| 5 | ZTE | 3.3% | - |
| 5 | Huawei | - | 3.0% |
| Others | 34.0% | 46.4% | |
- Note: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors
Other manufacturers outside the top five include TCL Communication, Lenovo, Sony Mobile Communications, Motorola. Smaller current and past players include Karbonn Mobile, Audiovox (now UTStarcom), BenQ-Siemens, BlackBerry, Casio,CECT, Coolpad, Fujitsu, HTC, Just5, Kyocera, Lumigon, Micromax Mobile, Mitsubishi Electric, Modu, NEC, Neonode,Openmoko, Panasonic, Palm, Pantech Wireless Inc., Philips, Qualcomm Inc., Sagem, Sanyo, Sharp, Sierra Wireless, SK Teletech, Soutec, Trium, Toshiba, and Vidalco.
Use of mobile phones
In general
Mobile phones are used for a variety of purposes, including keeping in touch with family members, conducting business, and having access to a telephone in the event of an emergency. Some people carry more than one cell phone for different purposes, such as for business and personal use. Multiple SIM cards may also be used to take advantage of the benefits of different calling plans—a particular plan might provide cheaper local calls, long-distance calls, international calls, or roaming. The mobile phone has also been used in a variety of diverse contexts in society, for example:
- A study by Motorola found that one in ten cell phone subscribers have a second phone that often is kept secret from other family members. These phones may be used to engage in activities including extramarital affairs or clandestine business dealings.[24]
- Some organizations assist victims of domestic violence by providing mobile phones for use in emergencies. They are often refurbished phones.[25]
- The advent of widespread text messaging has resulted in the cell phone novel; the first literary genre to emerge from the cellular age via text messaging to a website that collects the novels as a whole.[26]
- Mobile telephony also facilitates activism and public journalism being explored byReuters and Yahoo![27] and small independent news companies such as Jasmine News in Sri Lanka.
- The United Nations reported that mobile phones have spread faster than any other technology and can improve the livelihood of the poorest people in developing countries by providing access to information in places wherelandlines or the Internet are not available, especially in the least developed countries. Use of mobile phones also spawns a wealth of micro-enterprises, by providing work, such as selling airtime on the streets and repairing or refurbishing handsets.[28]
- In Mali and other African countries, people used to travel from village to village to let friends and relatives know about weddings, births and other events, which are now avoided within mobile phone coverage areas, which is usually greater than land line penetration.
- The TV industry has recently started using mobile phones to drive live TV viewing through mobile apps, advertising,social tv, and mobile TV.[29] 86% of Americans use their mobile phone while watching TV.
- In parts of the world, mobile phone sharing is common. It is prevalent in urban India, as families and groups of friends often share one or more mobiles among their members. There are obvious economic benefits, but often familial customs and traditional gender roles play a part.[30] It is common for a village to have access to only one mobile phone, perhaps owned by a teacher or missionary, but available to all members of the village for necessary calls.[31]
For distributing content
In 1998, one of the first examples of distributing and selling media content through the mobile phone was the sale ofringtones by Radiolinja in Finland. Soon afterwards, other media content appeared such as news, video games, jokes, horoscopes, TV content and advertising. Most early content for mobile tended to be copies of legacy media, such as the banner advertisement or the TV news highlight video clip. Recently, unique content for mobile has been emerging, from the ringing tones and ringback tones in music to "mobisodes", video content that has been produced exclusively for mobile phones.
In 2006, the total value of mobile-phone-paid media content exceeded Internet-paid media content and was worth 31 billion dollars.[32] The value of music on phones was worth 9.3 billion dollars in 2007 and gaming was worth over 5 billion dollars in 2007.[33]
While driving
Main article: Mobile phones and driving safety
Mobile phone use while driving is common but controversial. Being distracted while operating a motor vehicle has been shown to increase the risk of accidents. Because of this, many jurisdictions prohibit the use of mobile phones while driving. Egypt, Israel, Japan, Portugal and Singapore ban both handheld and hands-free use of a mobile phone; others —including the UK, France, and many U.S. states—ban handheld phone use only, allowing hands-free use.
Due to the increasing complexity of mobile phones, they are often more like mobile computers in their available uses. This has introduced additional difficulties for law enforcement officials in distinguishing one usage from another as drivers use their devices. This is more apparent in those countries which ban both handheld and hands-free usage
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