It was the beginning of a new era in telecommunications: On June 30, 1992, the D2 network of the then Mannesmann Group (now Vodafone) started. The following day, Deutsche Telekom also started radio operations with the D1 network. In the meantime, it is not just the cell phone that has evolved into a smartphone. inside-digital.de shows how the past 20 years have changed digital mobile communications.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 The first SMS
2 The “cell phone” or the “hand machine”
3 From cell phone to smartphone
4th Cell phone prices
The rapid development of mobile communications in Germany began with the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). The standard is used today in 670 GSM cellular networks in around 200 countries and areas of the world as a cellular standard and initially made it possible to transmit voice and, a short time later, also text messages.
The first SMS
“Merry Christmas” – that was the content of the first SMS that was sent on December 3, 1992. The short message is also celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Last year 55 billion text messages passed from cell phone to cell phone.
Currently, over 100 million gigabytes of data flow through the mobile network every year. In 1992 there were not even a million mobile phone connections across Germany , today there are more than 114 million and that with around 80 million inhabitants.
The “cell phone” or the “hand machine”
The term “mobile phone” found its way into German usage with the start of D-Netze in 1992 . Ultimately, it is not possible to clarify exactly where it comes from. But there are different, sometimes humorous explanations . For example the “Handie-Talkie SCR-536” produced by Motorola during World War II , which you could hold in your hand like a telephone. Language experts, however, do not believe that the word is based on this origin, since the existence of the “handie-talkie” was probably no longer generally known in the early 1990s.
And a story about the origin of the name is also circulating at Telekom . For example, a senior postal worker is said to have been looking for a word to market a portable telephone in 1988. The groundbreaking new thing: you could carry the device, which weighed around one pound and cost around 10,000 D-Marks at the time, with you everywhere. In an internal brainstorming session , someone is supposed to mumble the word “cell phone”to have. The only flaw in the story: The device did not read “Handy” but “Pocky” and at T-Mobile there was not a single document to be found that referred to a cell phone from that time as a “cellphone”. The Swabians, on the other hand, have a nice and equally self-deprecating explanation for the term: According to legend, “Hen die koa Schnur?” (Don’t they have a cable?) Became the term cellphone.
The fact is : The first D-Netz mobile phone, which had the term Handy in its name, was introduced by Loewe in 1992 and was called “HandyTel 100” . In other countries, the name was based on the property of the device, portability with the Latin word stem “mobile”. The devices carry this addition in many languages. But there are also alternatives such as portable (France), miracle telephone (Israel) or handheld machine (China). Wherever the term cell phone comes from, it is flawless German.
From cell phone to smartphone
The predecessor models of today’s cell phone generation were already shaped by the
so-called analog radio network: The first cell phone was introduced in 1983. The Motorola device was called the “DynaTAC 8000X” and, like the first successor models, was over 30 centimeters long and weighed just under a kilo, a huge chunk by today’s standards. He gave no pocket and did not get for nothing nicknamed Bone to German “bones” . You could use your mobile phone for a maximum of one hour, then the battery would run out. In return, the device had a steep price: it cost almost 4,000 dollars , the equivalent of a good 2,800 euros, at the time. Still, it became a best seller .
The first GSM-enabled cell phone was the Motorola International 3200 . With just under 35 centimeters and a phone call time of two and a half hours, it is a weak giant compared to the iPhone 4S with a size of 11.5 centimeters and a 14-hour non-stop phone call. Not to mention the other functions, such as the camera, Internet access or listening to music. Such possibilities were out of the question with the “bone”.
If mobile communications was once an innovation for the elite, as the price threshold in the D networks fell, it grew into a product for everyone. Statistically speaking, there are almost 1.4 mobile phone connections for every resident in Germany today . Many users have more than one contract, one cell phone is used for private purposes, one for business, and the partner card enables the family to use a second device. In fact, around 83 percent of the population own a cell phone and increasingly a model with additional functions.
The mobile phones have gone through a rapid development. Their number of models is diverse and every current smartphone is a top performer with a large number of applications. Music players, photo and video cameras and electronic mail are often included. In 2011, for the first time, more smartphones than conventional cell phones were sold . Every third German owns such a computer cell phone, and even every second person under 30 years of age. The trend is being spurred on by increasing data rates in mobile communications: In the meantime, the LTE mobile communications standard has already topped the wired DSL connection.
Cell phone prices
Twenty years ago , a cell phone minute during the day cost just under DM 2 with a monthly flat rate of almost DM 80. In the off-peak time, between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., 50 pfennigs per minute were incurred. That changed fundamentally in the course of mobile communications history. Around ten years later, it was not even half as much and customers paid a basic monthly fee of around DM 20. The minute prices had to be paid separately. Today there is a term tariff including language flat rate for just under ten euros . In addition, simple but powerful mobile phones for everyday use are currently available from 29 euros – without a contract and without being tied to a network or a specific oneSIM card .
