| The past, present, and future of cell phones | | | | two dimes), knowing how to make collect calls, and |
| Just in the last few years cell phones (usually called | | | | finding pay phones in new cities were frequent logistic |
| mobile phones outside the US) have become de facto | | | | challenges. Not to mention the inconvenience of not |
| standards for most of the population. What once used | | | | being able to get access to those you need at any |
| to be a luxury item for a select few that was carried | | | | time. |
| around in a large leather bag and was the size of the | | | | At this point, corporate employees, sales professionals, |
| brick, is no longer. | | | | parents, young adults, and anyone in industries where |
| Technology has advanced the mobile phone industry | | | | communication among many is critical could hardly |
| to the point where the phone is a mere commodity for | | | | imagine life without the benefits of mobile phones. |
| vendors, meaning that's not where they make the real | | | | As technology matures, ringtones, cameras, GPS |
| money. It's in the service plans, which require 2 year | | | | features, music, and multiple other features will be |
| commitments usually, where companies like Sprint, | | | | added to the hardware. And the software on phones |
| Nextel (now Sprint Nextel), AT&T (now Cingular), | | | | will progress to include easier web access, |
| Cingular, Verizon, and T-Mobile make the revenues | | | | advertisements, news downloads, and easier chat and |
| that enable the cycle of technology innovation and | | | | email features - becoming the only piece of technology |
| marketing to continue. | | | | most use. In fact, in many countries in South Asia |
| While the downsides of cell phones have focused | | | | (where the industrial revolution never occurred) they |
| primarily on the annoyance of public conversations and | | | | have gone from agricultural industries right to |
| the small possibility of brain damage due to cellular | | | | technology, bypassing an entire type of economy. It is |
| coverage near the ear, these pale in comparison to | | | | in these countries where the cell phone is an essential |
| the benefits derived from cellular technology. For those | | | | tool, enabling communication among millions who don't |
| who have had cell phones most of their lives (think | | | | own a computer. |
| anyone under 25), it's hard to imagine life before cell | | | | As technology advances, and people respond |
| phones. Writing down numbers in a paper directory, | | | | positively to resulting changes, we will all benefit. |
| having change on hand (first a nickel, then a dime, then | | | | |