History/Globalization of Mobile Phones

Peter Ha 3/3/13 International Management

Mobile Phones, or Cell Phones, have had, and are still continuing to make an enormous impact on the world today. They are used for multiple purposes such as keeping in touch with family members, running a business or even access to a telephone in case of an emergency. With the use of different Subscriber Identity Module (SIM card) mobile phones can even be used for cheaper long distance calls, roaming, or international calls. Some people even have multiple mobile phones for different purposes; for example, a person might have one phone for socializing and a phone for managing or running a business. Mobile phones have become a major convenience to people all over the world. As of 2008 about 60 countries worldwide have more than one million mobile phone users. According to the United Nations, cell phones have spread faster than any other technology and can even improve the living standard of even the poorest people in developing countries by allowing them to access information in places where landlines and the internet is not available. The uses of mobile phones have changed the way people in different countries all over live. The photo above is just a standard cell phone to get things started.

It all started with 0 Generation or 0G phones. In 1946, AT&T began selling Mobile Telephone Service (MTS) which was introduced first in St. Louis, then to one hundred other towns and highway corridors by 1948. The phone service required calls to be set up manually by an operator and the equipment weighed about 80 pounds. Although due to the constraints of the companys technology and the costs, the service only provided 3 people to make calls at one time, it eventually lead to a customer decline. Then in 1965, AT&T introduced a majorly improved service called Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS). This service provided 12 channels instead of 3, eliminated the manual set ups, and reduced the size and weight of the equipment. Radio Common Carrier was also introduced in the early 1960s to compete with AT&Ts IMTS. Even a couple European countries had mobile phone services such as A-Netz and B-Netz in Germany, and OLT in Norway. Then soon after in 1973, Motorola and Bell Labs was the first to invent a hand held phone which only had 30 minutes of call time and required 10 hours of charging.

Then in 1978, Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), the first widely developed analog cellular system (1G), was introduced in the Americas and soon after in Israel in 1986, then in Australia in 1987. AMPS was the starting technology that really helped drive the mass market usage of cellular technology. However it had various major problems such as being unencrypted, it was easily vulnerable to eavesdropping and it required significant amounts of wireless spectrum in order to support the service. The photo above is one of the most commercialized and probably one of the most memorable AMPS called the Motorola DynaTAC Analog AMPS. Eventually it became outdated to the Digital AMPS which was introduced in 1990. However, due to all of its flaws, the AMPS service was terminated by most American carriers by 2008.

In the 1990s digital cellular networks, or the second generation (2G) cell phones were beginning to be developed. There were two system standards competing in the global market. The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard which originated in Europe and the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) standard which developed in the United States. In 1991, Finland introduced the first GSM network, Radiolinja,; which began the mobile telecom corporation in Europe. The picture above is a 2G cell phone that ran under GSM. Today, GSM based systems are used by 80% of subscribers from around the world. GSM phones were even the first phones that allowed a new type of communication known as SMS messages, or Text Messages. The CDMA standard system on the other hand was first introduced by the IS-54 and IS-136, also known as Digital AMPS (D-AMPS). Today, 17% of all subscribers worldwide operate under a CDMA based system; although some CDMA operators have shifted toward GSM. Eventually CDMA phones were allowed to send SMS messages after GSM phones. Originally 2G phones started out as bulky, brick-like phones, but as technology advanced through the years it changed into a more handheld phone.

This phone is a Nokia GSM 3200 phone, a handheld second generation cell phone. Produced by the Finnish corporation Nokia, Nokia is said to be the second largest mobile phone maker, with Samsung being the number one. Originally on the verge of bankruptcy in the 1980s, Nokia turned their marketing strategy in 1992, by concentrating solely on the production on telecommunication production, which eventually lead them to become the number one mobile phone manufacturer by 1998. However as of 2012, Nokia has been spreading its manufacturing department to different parts of the world, but at a price in its own country. For example in February of 2012, Nokia had laid off 4,000 employees to transfer manufacturing to Mexico and Asia. Even though Nokia is assisting in its own globalization of its phone by international trade, Nokia is also taking away jobs of 4,000 of their own employees in Finland.

With the creation of the 2G mobile phones, this lead to another technologic advancement, the smart phone. The smart phone was still a mobile phone, along with the right network, it could perform more tasks than the average cell phone could do. In 1993, the worlds first smart phone was introduced, the IBM Simon; it was a mobile phone, pager, PDA and fax machine all in one. It later developed into much more than that, by becoming portable media players, low end digital cameras/ video cameras and even a GPS as well. The photo above is just a typical smart phone that has all of the basic functions that were just mentioned before. Today at least 80% of the world population has a mobile phone, out of which 1.08 billion are smart phones. Smart phones have even become a daily part of smart phone users lives. Including myself, I use my phone to remind me of tasks that I need to accomplish such as attending a meeting, reminding me when a project is due, contacting family/friends, or even a source of entertainment when Ive got some free time and I dont have access to a computer or a television. According to GoGlobe.com, the top 10 countries that smart phones are penetrating are Singapore, Canada, China, Sweden, Spain, the U.S., Australia, Norway, New Zealand, and Denmark. In spite of this, as time goes on developing countries will advance in technology where their standard mobile phone would be smart phones.

With the rise in technology, it wasnt very long until the commercialization of third generation (3G) or mobile broadband data arose. With cell phones becoming more and more a part of everyday life, the rise in demand of internet access on cell phones was inevitable. As a result, in 2001, NTT DoCoMo, Japan, became first network to commercially launch 3G; however it was limited due to certain complications. Thus the first network that went commercially live was by SK Telecom. Monet Mobile Networks was the first to launch a commercial 3G network, but dont exist anymore today. In Europe there had only been a pre-commercial launch by UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems), however they had no commercial handsets, which lead to no paying customers. The 3G network operating phones like the one above allowed mobile internet access, better quality telephony than 2G phones, fixed wireless internet access, video calls, and even mobile TV. The photo above is just one of the many phones manufactured that work under the 3G network. It is a Motorola Droid X2, and it has all the standard functions most general 3G phones have.

One mobile phone that utilized the 3G network in places all over the world was the iPhone. The picture above is an iPhone 4, it is a 3G network utilizing smart phone, with a touch screen, rear camera, front camera, built in speaker, and several other features that caught the eye of millions. The iPhone 4 probably did so well, because of the constant delivery of the general publics satisfaction, and the technologic advancements that shortly followed starting with the very first iPhone. On the day of the iPhone 4s release it was released in not just the United States, but also the UK, France, Germany, and Japan. However, thats not all the countries the iPhone 4 has been released in; there is also South Korea, Tunisia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Israel, and South Africa. From the looks of things, it appears that Apple is definitely globally known by now if not at the time the iPhone 4 was released. The iPhone even has an application in which it can speak and understand up to 15 different languages, and still counting. With the usage of mobile phones these days, and the dependency some people have on it, with a brand name like Apple or the product itself (IPhone), iPhones are without a doubt already have if not are becoming more globalized.

Even with such an advancement of the 3G network, there was still more work needed to be done. It was inevitable that eventually these networks would be overwhelmed with the increase of bandwidth applications such as streaming live media and internet access. As a result the 4G network, or native IP network, began being commercialized in South Korea called the Mobile WiMax standard in 2006. Eventually, 4G had advanced to what was called Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, and was first commercialized in Norway in 2009. The 4G system provided mobile ultra-broadband internet access for multiple mobile devices like some of the newest phones out today. Take the iPhone 5, the photo above, because it runs under a 4G network, its features include improved mobile web access for certain applications, IP telephony (Internet Protocol), gaming services, high definition mobile TV, video conferencing, and cloud computing. The spread of 4G mobile phones (smart phones) around the world are currently on the rise. In 2011, the global shipments of 4G smart phones totaled about 7 million units, and that number is expected to exponentially raise according to the leading global smart phone distributers i.e. Apple Inc., Google Inc., Samsung Electronics, and HTC Corp.

Samsung Telecommunications has largely contributed to the globalization of mobile phones today. By the end of 2010, Samsung had sold over 280 million mobile phones, and with the increasing sales of the new Samsung Galaxy, and its following models, like the one above (Samsung Galaxy 3S), it surpassed the sale of Apple iPhones by the end of 2011. As of 2012, Samsung is the number one phone manufacturer in the world. Currently, Samsung sells mobile phones in various parts of the world such as locations in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Samsung is also beginning to manufacture its mobile phones with taking the environment into consideration, by recycling older mobile phones from other parts of the world and using more environmentally friendly materials. With the combination of multiple network providers such as Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, and other network providers in other parts of the world, Samsung mobile phones are being widely known and utilized in everyday life in parts all over the world.

When talking about the actual manufacturing of all these mobile phones, international trade plays a very important part. For example, Apple does not have any manufacturing facilities located in the U.S. to manufacture iPhones. All the phones are produced and shipped all across the world from overseas facilities located in different areas like China. Even Samsung uses overseas manufacturing facilities in locations such as India to produce their mobile phones, and from there the phones are shipped to different Samsung vendors across the world. Nokia the second mobile phone manufacturer also uses overseas locations in China, Mexico, India, Brazil, South Korea, and Vietnam. In spite of all this, there are several reasons as to why all these top manufacturing companies rely on international trade. For these corporations to gain maximum profits, they need cheap labor costs, which countries like China, India, Vietnam, Mexico, etc. all provide. Another reason is that taxes are also cheaper in these locations, so the corporations can save more money. In addition, there are skilled workers that specialize in the manufacturing of mobile phones and all the facilities needed are also conveniently located closely. As an example, the photo above is a Motorola Droid and its parts which were all made and put together in China.

In conclusion, mobile phones have completely changed the way of daily living ever since it hit the global market. Mobile phones have made an impact even in developing countries, because now the developing countries now have a much more convenient way of communication, and it will make their live a whole lot easier. Eventually it could lead to the advancement of their countries and help them further develop and allow them to live with what every developed country has. For example in Africa a man named Jan Chipchase travels to different parts of Africa advertising for mobile phone corporations by carrying around a large sign and providing information on mobile phones. Mobile phones went from being only accessible in vehicles to smart phones capable of getting internet access, streaming media, watching high definition television, and even a built in GPS navigation system. All of this was possible by the technologic advancements with networks as well; going from only 3 people being able to call at one time and having an operator manually set up the calls, to being able to call internationally and having multiple calls simultaneously. This photo above is just a miniscule sample of the types and brands of mobile phones out in the world today. All if not most of these phones were manufactured in an overseas manufacturing facility; which was then shipped to the mobile phone vendors. This all is a part of international trade and as long as this continues on, except in other developing countries it all contributes to the globalization of mobile phones.

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