Karen Mower/Getty Images/iStockphoto
The cellphone is celebrating its 40th birthday. More exactly, it was on April 3, 1973, that a senior engineer at Motorola made what is believed to have been the first call over a cellular network on a phone that happened to weigh 1.1 kilograms. Here are some other key milestones in the history and development of the cellphone.
1984: The first commercial cellphone goes on sale in the United States.
Two days later in 1984: The first Hollywood executive screams, "You'll never work in this town again, you talentless hack!" into a cellphone at an expensive Beverly Hills restaurant.
One month later in 1984: The first disgruntled cellphone owner calls his carrier, screams about the amount on his monthly bill and the poor service it paid for, and vows to switch to a competitor.
1985: First charging cable is lost and is replaced at a cost of $115.
1996: The first flip phone hits the market.
Later that day in 1996: Someone flips their new phone open and says, "Kirk to Enterprise" into the mouthpiece, and people actually laugh.
1993: Apple launches the Newton personal digital assistant; first commercial text-messaging service launched.
1994: The Apple Newton? LMFAO
1996: The first Palm Pilot personal digital assistant goes on sale.
2002: The first cellphone is released that includes a camera.
2002 + 1 minute: First selfie.
2002 + 3 minutes: First naughty picture.
2002 + 4 minutes: First regrets about naughty picture.
2003: RIM releases the BlackBerry; Waterloo no longer just a town in Belgium.
2006: The first person says, "No, I've have never heard of a Palm Pilot."
2007: Apple releases first iPhone.
2008: First person lies that his phone was dead and that's why he missed all those calls and he would have gotten back right away had he only known. Damn phones!
2009: Human conversation ends.
2010: Six trillion text messages are sent.
2011: Waterloo is just a town in Belgium again.
2012: One billionth disgruntled cellphone owner calls his carrier, screams about the amount on his monthly bill and the poor service it paid for, and vows to switch back to the competitor he used to be with but left in a huff 18 months earlier.
2013: Your iPhone 5 is soooooo last year.