Short answers, pulled from the story.
Martin Cooper made the first mobile phone call on the 3rd of April 1973 while standing on a New York City sidewalk. He dialed his rival Joel S. Engel at AT&T using a prototype handset that weighed approximately 2 kilograms.
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone launched the first commercial automated cellular network in Japan in 1979. This early network known as 1G used analog technology and relied on large base stations covering tens of kilometers.
Finland's Radiolinja launched the second-generation GSM standard in 1991. This digital cellular technology introduced data services for mobile including SMS text messages and expanded to Multimedia Messaging Service and mobile internet.
Android held 71.9 percent of the overall market share as of March 2025. iOS held 27.7 percent of the market share during the same period.
The average user replaces their mobile phone every 11 to 18 months. Discarded phones contribute to electronic waste and manufacturers within Europe are subject to the WEEE directive.
Police data in San Francisco showed that half of all robberies in 2012 were thefts of cellular phones. One out of three robberies involving the theft of a cellular phone was reported by the Federal Communications Commission.