Mobile Technology's Swift Rise

Over the years, mobile technology's swift rise has made quite a splash on the world. From the clunkier mobile phones that date back to the 1980s up to today's Apple iPhone and Samsung's famed Galaxy line, no other technology has spread as quickly on a worldwide scale to saturate the market to such an extent. The statistics don't lie, and mobile technology has risen to epic proportions over the years. It is worth exploring it in detail.

At this point in time, there are an overwhelming 6.8 billion cell phone subscriptions across the world. This has been a huge and consistent climb since the earliest days of cell phones. Generally speaking, the first mobile phone devices can be traced back to 1918, when these items were used in German military trains. The German Reichsbahn and mail service in 1926 then offered mobile phones to train passengers riding first class. By 1931, there was a children's book composed by Erich Kastner, who included a future utopia with mobile phones in its description. In the 1940s, in large United States cities, mobile phones were available in luxury cars. In 1961, Soviet engineer Leonid Kupryanovich introduced a handheld mobile phone. Motorola, a well known company today, produced its first mobile phones in 1973. Five years later, in 1978, 1G service began. By the 1990s, 2G service was begun and took off in a huge way. In 2001, 3G service got its start, and then by 2009, 4G service began.

For every 100 people on earth, there are now 96 cell subscriptions. Mobile saturation by continent can be measured in subscriptions per every 100 residents. There are 63 cell subscriptions for every 100 residents of Africa, the continent with the least of these subscriptions and 170 throughout North America. Surprisingly, the rural poor from the developing world are leading the charge in terms of individuals who are signing up for new cell phone subscriptions. More of these people are using mobile broadband as well. In fact, 20 percent of the saturation of mobile broadband in the developing world reside in sub-Saharan Africa and in the Asia Pacific area.

One quarter of mobile phone users now do their online shopping from their phones. One fifth of these users rely on their mobile phones with which to do their shopping in general. Mobile payments increased from $105.9 billion in 2011 to $171.5 billion in 2012. The mobile companies are thriving as they are reaping the rewards, which include millions of new cell subscriptions on a daily basis.

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