CITY FOCUS: Vodafone dials up thirty years of the 動きやすい on New Year's Day, with more phones than people now in Britain
Three 10年間s on, Lady Harrison can still 解任する her son’s words coming 負かす/撃墜する the line to her late husband.
‘Hi dad, マイク here. I’m talking to you from 議会 Square, the very first call from a 動きやすい phone, Happy New Year.’
It was the 一打/打撃 of midnight on New Year’s Day in 1985, and, standing beside her husband in the hallway of their Surrey home, she was 証言,証人/目撃するing history.
‘That was やめる a moment, but I don’t think we realised やめる how big,’ she says.
Scroll 負かす/撃墜する for ビデオ?
No joke: Comedian Ernie Wise became the first celebrity to use a 動きやすい phone on a UK 網状組織 a few days after the Vodafone 網状組織 was laun ched on 1 January 1985
The 30th 周年記念日 of the first 動きやすい phone call in the UK is only a few days away. In the 介入するing period the market has 爆発するd.
Today there are more 動きやすい phones than people in Britain, and the 産業 has also developed almost beyond 承認.
同様に as phone calls and text messages, most 動きやすいs today can take photos, surf the internet and even give 運動ing directions.
It’s a far cry from the five キログラム contraption that Michael Harrison, son of Vodafone chairman Sir Ernest Harrison lugged into 議会 Square on New Year’s Eve almost 30 years ago.
First call 受取人: Vodafone chairman Sir Ernest Harrison,?who died in 2009 老年の 82, was a 伝説の 人物/姿/数字 in British 産業
Gathered 一連の会議、交渉/完成する the cream coloured telephone in the hallway for their 伝統的な New Year party, Lady (Janie) Harrison said that her family and friends were to first see a call broadcast over Britain’s 動きやすい the telephone, that may sound 半端物 but never having had a conversation on a 細胞の 網状組織 I didn’t know what to 推定する/予想する.
‘My recollection was that it was very (疑いを)晴らす. I suppose I thought that it might not be very (疑いを)晴らす.’
At the other end of the phone シャンペン酒 corks popped and a photographer snapped the moment the receiver was 解除するd by Sir Ernest.
‘People at the other end were celebrating and clapping, there was やめる a bit of to-ing and fro-ing,’ says Michael. ‘Dad was 説 to everybody that this was a “大規模な moment”.
‘You can say that you were 現在の”’ he told them. ‘He [Ernest] had waited a long time for this moment, the birth of 動きやすい telephony in Britain.’
It was the culmination of years of 準備 ? 含むing winning the first licence to operate a 動きやすい 網状組織 in Britain in 1982.
But, for a 科学(工学)技術 that would grow to 支配する the way that people communicated, its 解放(する) was reasonably low 重要な.
The Times newspaper the に引き続いて day ran an 84-word 報告(する)/憶測 on the 開始する,打ち上げる of the 網状組織.
‘Britain’s first “細胞の” 無線で通信する-telephone service 許すing more efficient communication on the move was introduced in the London 地域 yesterday 井戸/弁護士席 ahead of schedule,’ it began
The story goes that Lord (Arnold) Weinstock, the 伝説の industrialist who ran GEC, was 現在のd by his underlings with a 原型 動きやすい phone.
研究員s behind the 道具, which had been developed for 軍の use, believed that it could have wide spread 控訴,上告 の中で 消費者s. But Weinstock 拒絶するd the 科学(工学)技術, believing it would never be more convenient than a landline.
Sir Ernest, who died in 2009 老年の 82, was a 伝説の 人物/姿/数字 in British 産業. Born the son of a London docker, he trained as a 借り切る/憲章d accountant and joined Racal, the 電気の 工学 company that became Vodafone.< /p>
The pivotal moment (機の)カム in 1980, when Racal outbid GEC to buy the 動きやすい 科学(工学)技術.
Maybe it was because Harrison was a fan of (a)手の込んだ/(v)詳述する 告示s ? when he was knighted in 1981 Racal 知らせるd 従業員s by sending parachutists to land in the middle of a company picnic ? that the New Year’s Day 計画(する) was hatched.
The men behind the 網状組織 開始する,打ち上げる were Vodafone’s five first 従業員s ? who became known internally as the Famous Five. の中で them was マイク Pinches, the company’s first technical director.
When it 開始する,打ち上げるd, the 網状組織 ? which was only 利用できる inside parts of the M25 ? had five base 駅/配置するs. By the end of the first year, it had more than 100 and up to 12,000 顧客s using 動きやすい phones.
早期に 進歩: When it 開始する,打ち上げるd, th e Vodafone 網状組織 had five base 駅/配置するs, but by the end of the first year, it had more than 100 and up to 12,000 顧客s using 動きやすい phones
When 論証するing the service to 顧客s, Pinches was dogged by every salesman’s perennial 恐れる ? that the 網状組織 wouldn’t work. This was 特に true when he was landed with the 仕事 of selling the first 動きやすい to Prince Philip.
‘He 手配中の,お尋ね者 one in his carriage,’ Pinches explains. ‘So we drove up there the day before, and went around the circle outside Buckingham Palace.
‘As we started to make our way 負かす/撃墜する the 商店街, we pulled over to 手段 the signal strength when a couple of burly men whizzed up and jumped out and asked us 公正に/かなり 突然の what we were doing.’
After some careful 交渉するing they managed to 納得させる the guards that they were there to sell a phone to the Prince. When the に引き続いて day (機の)カム, the 科学(工学)技術 ? thankfully ? worked perfectly. Pinches says that Prince Philip was delighted with his 最新の gadget.
Today there are almost 80 million 動きやすい phones 登録(する)d in the UK ? more than the 全住民 of Britain. A staggering 44 billion minutes of 動きやすい calls were made in the three months to September ? an 普通の/平均(する) of seven minutes per phone per day.
It is a 見通し that Sir Ernest had conjured up almost forty years earlier.
‘He had a long-running 失望/欲求不満 with how long it was taking people to come up with the 科学(工学)技術,’ says his son.
‘In the 1970s there was something on the market like a 動きやすい phone that went in your car with a 大規模な 殴打/砲列 in the boot.’
Even once the Vodafone 網状組織 開始する,打ち上げるd, phones were for the 比較して 井戸/弁護士席 off ? if they believed they needed them.
‘One of the problems,’ explains Michael Harrison, ‘is that at the time nobody knew anybody else with a 動きやすい phone! I was a 訓練生 借り切る/憲章d accountant. It was a real 高級な for the 早期に adopters.’
He 追加するs: ‘Dad did believe that the 科学(工学)技術 would get cheap enough to 許す the phone to be an everyman 製品. He talked about a time when everyone would have a 動きやすい phone.’
Three 10年間s later, the 見通し from the 開拓する of British 動きやすい phones has come true.
大規模な 拡大: Today there are more 動きやすい phones than people in Britain, and the 産業 has also developed almost beyond 承認.
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