Cell Phone
1989
I finally got one. Four, actually. Cell phones, that is. Nice little Samsungs with a T-Mobile 1000-minute calling plan.
I resisted for as long as I could, but when my family took a long trip out West, and with the prospects of someone getting lost, I decided each family member needed their own cell phone. Little did I know that the entire Western United States is a vast cellular wasteland.
They're so ubiqutous, but still, so recent. How recent?, you want to know. Glad you asked.
The FirstMention of the formal phrase cellular phones harks back to 1981, with a decision by the federal government to permit a new type of phone service. Here's how it was reported in the April 10, 1981 Wall Street Journal.
It seems to have taken a surprisingly long while for the seemingly obvious term cell phones to make an appearance, as it doesn't make it's own FirstMention for almost a decade, showing up in this April 15, 1989 article from New Scientist magazine on -- of all topics -- smarmy salesmen.
And thus, a new world was born. iPhone, anyone?
Know of an earlier FirstMention? Drop us a line at david@firstmention.com