Take a moment on National Telephone Day this April 25, to recall comedian Gary Gulman’s classic riff:
“To me, the phone is a seldom-used app on my phone.”
We have come a long way. If you ask most people who invented the phone, they would likely respond not with “Alexander Graham Bell,” but with “Steve Jobs.”
Well, Apple’s 2007 iPhone release did change mobile technology forever. A camera, iPod, computer, and phone — all in one handheld device? Sounds quaint now, but tell that to the folks who lined up for days trying the buy one.
Gary’s right. The “phone” part of your phone seems like an afterthought. Disagree?
You can always text us.
National Telephone Day timeline
Robert Hooke, a British physicist, invents the ‘tin can telephone,’ also known as the ‘lovers’ phone.’
Inventor Elisha Gray files a patent for the telephone within hours of Alexander Graham Bell, but Bell's patent gets approved first.
The first regular phone line is constructed between Somerville and Boston.
Bell, located in New York, calls Thomas Watson in San Francisco, probably to argue about who was paying cheaper rent (history cannot confirm).
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