The laptop was invented in the 1940s but was deemed useless!

in TechnologyMotorola's DynaTac 8000 / Credits: Wikimedia

by Yohan Demeure, scientific editor

Today, the mobile phone is an integral part of the daily lives of most consumers. However, you should know that this invention could have been born in the 1940s, about three decades before its official appearance. This innovation had indeed been deemed unnecessary. Why that ?

A very late release

The mobile phone is the result of various technologies already existing for the most part in the 1940s. Among these, we find the cellular mesh. In 1880, the inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell received 50,000 old francs to create a company and finance his research on sound. Nearly half a century later, the interested party grouped its activities within a single entity: Bell Labs. This is a type of design office whose mission is to design and repair operating equipment.

Bell Labs have proven to be real machines for producing high-level science, and many researchers have been rewarded. Among these innovations, we find the transistor radio and of course the cell phone, both developed in 1947. However, it should be noted that the first cell phone was not presented to the public until 25 years later by Martin Cooper, director of research and development at Motorola. Why hasn't the mobile phone seen earlier adoption?

No market for mobile at the time

The players in the telephony sector had at the time commissioned market studies. However, the idea of ​​a phone to carry and use everywhere did not really interest these companies. They have indeed considered that there was no market for this type of device. If Motorola was the first company to unveil a mobile phone - the DynaTac 8000 in 1973, the Nokia company will arrive in 1987 with its Mobira Cityman 900. The latter will become the world's leading manufacturer of mobile phones in 1998, and this until 2011.

It must be said that at the time, the Finnish giant felt that the problem had been poorly posed. Officials said the important thing was not that people have a phone in their pocket to call the old-fashioned way, but rather from public space. However, this vision has made it possible to revolutionize the way of communicating. When you call an office or an apartment, the number concerns a place where a person who will pick up is. In the case of the portable, it is not a question of calling in a place but directly a person.