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Gauss and Weber build the electromagnetic telegraph
Carl F. Gauss and Ernst H. Weber. The telegraph was the first step to making electrical signals travel from one device to another. It laid the ground work for the telephone. -
The first telephone patent, No. 174,465 was issued to Alexander Graham Bell
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Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
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First complete sentence of speech transmitted by telephone
Boston, Massachusetts. Alexander Graham Bell says the famous sentence, "Mr. Watson, come here I want to see you," to his assistant Thomas A. Watson who was in the next room. -
Three thousand telephones currently in service
There were 3,000 telephones in service by the end of 1877. -
Opening of long distance telephone service
Only 16 years after the invention of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell in New York speaks to William H, Hubbard in Chicago. It was the inaguration of the New York-Chicago telephone line. -
Opening of first trans-continental telephone line
A party phone call between Theodore Newton Vail in Georgia, President Wilson in D.C, Alexander Graham Bell in New York, and Thomas Watson in San Fransisco marked the opening of the first trans-continental telephone line. -
Introduction of the Monophone
First modern type of handset -
First telephone call around the world
Between W.S. Gifford, President, and T.G. Miller, Vice President, of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. The men were located approximately fifty feet apart, in the Long Lines Building in New York City, but the telephone circuit stretched approximately 23,000 miles around the world. -
National Numbering Plan (area codes) implemented
It was developed by AT&T and Bell Laboratories in the 1940's, and went into effect in 1947. It included the United States and Canada and originally there were only 86 codes. -
AT&T introduces the famous black rotary Model 500 telephone
The Western Electric model 500 telephone series was the standard desk-style domestic telephone set. It was issued from 1949-1984. -
The volume of telephone calls reaches 180 million a day
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Bell Labs develops the electronics for cellular phones
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The first commecially-available videophone is invented
AT&T’s Picturephone Mod I. Initially it was not very successful as people found it to not be user friendly, too bulky, and the image was small. -
Bell System adopts the use of "911" as a nationwide emergency telephone number
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The "Touch-a-matic" telephone is introduced
Developed by the Bell System. It was the first telephone with a solid state memory and could automatically dial any of 31 pre-recorded numbers at the touch of a button. -
First cell phone call made
Call made by a Motorola employee, Martin Cooper. The call was placed on the first Motorola DynaTAC prototype to head of reseach at AT&T's Bell Labs, Joel Engel. -
Patent is filed on Caller ID
Carolyn Doughty, Bell Telephone Laboratories, files a patent on Caller ID -
The world’s first “smart phone” released
The IBM Simon. It had major apps such as a calendar, address book, clock, calculator, note pad, and a simple email system. It went on sale in 1994 and was priced at $900. -
The first commercial phone-to-phone text message sent
The message read, “burp” and was sent by Brennan Hayden, an engineer at Aldiscon. (Note that this was the first phone-to-phone text message. Neil Papworth from the U.K., sent the words “Merry Christmas” to a colleague's phone from his personal computer on December 3rd, 1992.) -
Caller ID implemented nationally in USA
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Number of cellular telephone subscribers reaches 100 million
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World's first camera phone released in Japan
The Sharp J-SH04. It came equipped with a 0.1-megapixel camera. (Compared to a 8.0 megapixel camera in the iPhone 4S). It was only made available in Japan. -
Apple introduces the iPhone
It revolutionized the industry. It can function as a camera phone (with a 2.0 megapixel camera), a portable media player, and an Internet client with email and web browsing capabilities. It can also send/recieve texts, and has both Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. It is fully touchscreen with a virtual keyboard.
