From suntimes.com:
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the first commercial wireless call. It happened Oct. 13, 1983, at Soldier Field, where Ameritech Mobile, now part of Verizon Wireless, made the call from a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X known as the "brick" phone. The phone cost $3,995, was 13 inches long, and weighed 1.75 pounds.
Paul Gudonis, who was vice president of marketing for Ameritech Mobile Communications and who organized the launch, said 20 customers of the new cell phone service were invited to the event.
The late Jack Brickhouse, then the broadcaster for the Cubs, served as master of ceremonies. Bob Barnett, president of Ameritech Mobile, made the first cell phone call to Alexander Graham Bell's great-grandson, who happened to be in Germany at the time.
Katie Boudas, who was head of public relations for Ameritech Mobile at the time, recited cell phone expenses that would shock people today:
• • Service cost $50 a month plus 40 cents a minute peak, 24 cents off-peak. There were no free minutes in those days, Boudas said. The original network had 12 cell sites in the Chicago area.
• • The first year, Ameritech Mobile signed up 12,000 subscribers. Verizon Wireless now has 68.7 million subscribers and generates $48.7 billion in annual revenue.
• • Total wireless subscribers totaled 262.7 million, or 84 percent of the U.S. population, as of June, according to the International Association for Wireless Telecommunications. Nearly half, or 46 percent, of children ages 8 to 12 use cell phones, according to the Nielsen Co.
Other members of the start-up team were Evan Richards, vice president of engineering; Dennis Hackl, chief financial officer, and Allan Arlow, general counsel. Hank Lucas served as general manager of the trial run.
"Originally, the cell phone was about liberating people from the wires of the telephone call," said Jim Wicks, corporate vice president and director of Motorola's consumer experience design team. "Now, it's about liberating people from their desktops. It's about information, entertainment, movies, music and social networks."
