How it started
IGI PUBLISHING
ITJ 5344
International of Mobile Human Computer Interaction, 1(4), 1-3, October-December 2009 1 701 E.Journal Chocolate Avenue, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.igi-global.com This paper appears in the publication, International Journal of Mobile Human Computer Interaction, Volume 1, Issue 4 edited by Joanna Lumsden © 2009, IGI Global
How it started:
Mobile internet Devices of the Previous Millennium Evan Koblentz, Consultant, USA
Internet access on cellular phones, after emerging as a new technology in the mid-1990s, is now a thriving activity despite the global economic recession. IDC reported smartphone sales of 1.18 billion units in 2008 (IDC, 2009), compared to the unconnected personal digital assistants approaching merely 1 million units per quarter in the second half of 2003.However, the concept of using handheld devices for widearea data applications began 25 years prior to the beginning of the end of PDAs. The key year in the history of PDA devices is 1978. That year, a start-up called Lexicon sold its handheld electronic language translator (Levy, 1979) called the LK-3000. Its interchangeable modules included database and notepad applications, and the product was licensed by Siemens-Nixdorf. Meanwhile independent inventors Robert Hotto and Judah Klausner patented what may be the world’s first PDA (Klausner & Hotto, 1977). Toshiba acquired the rights and produced it as the Memo Note 30 model LC-836MN. It combined DOI: 10.4018/jmhci.2009062601
a handheld calculator with an alphanumeric keypad and had the ability to store up to 30 data entries. Noteworthy in these devices were their applications to the intelligence community. Lexicon founder Michael Levy revealed in 2003 Koblentz (2003) that an encryption module was created for the U.S. National Security Agency, while Toshiba’s product was featured for its own cipher value in the April 1980 issue of Cryptologia. In both cases, the intention was that military and intelligence staff would use proprietary hardware to send data over public landline telephone networks – a technique not dissimilar from modern commercial VPNs. More ambitious devices developed in the realm of science fiction, such as Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on BBC radio beginning in March, and Gordon Dickson’s story Thank you, Beep published that summer1 in the Hewlett-Packard Calculator Journal. It would take time for reality to equal the hype. Miniature landline acoustic modems only available to the defense and intelligence community in 1978 were publicly launched by the
Copyright © 2009, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
2 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage: www.igi-global.com/article/started-mobile-internet-devicesprevious/37457?camid=4v1
This title is available in InfoSci-Journals, InfoSci-Journal Disciplines Communications and Social Science. Recommend this product to your librarian: www.igi-global.com/e-resources/libraryrecommendation/?id=2
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www.igi-global.com/article/automatic-languagetranslation/49665?camid=4v1a
ITJ 5344
International of Mobile Human Computer Interaction, 1(4), 1-3, October-December 2009 1 701 E.Journal Chocolate Avenue, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.igi-global.com This paper appears in the publication, International Journal of Mobile Human Computer Interaction, Volume 1, Issue 4 edited by Joanna Lumsden © 2009, IGI Global
How it started:
Mobile internet Devices of the Previous Millennium Evan Koblentz, Consultant, USA
Internet access on cellular phones, after emerging as a new technology in the mid-1990s, is now a thriving activity despite the global economic recession. IDC reported smartphone sales of 1.18 billion units in 2008 (IDC, 2009), compared to the unconnected personal digital assistants approaching merely 1 million units per quarter in the second half of 2003.However, the concept of using handheld devices for widearea data applications began 25 years prior to the beginning of the end of PDAs. The key year in the history of PDA devices is 1978. That year, a start-up called Lexicon sold its handheld electronic language translator (Levy, 1979) called the LK-3000. Its interchangeable modules included database and notepad applications, and the product was licensed by Siemens-Nixdorf. Meanwhile independent inventors Robert Hotto and Judah Klausner patented what may be the world’s first PDA (Klausner & Hotto, 1977). Toshiba acquired the rights and produced it as the Memo Note 30 model LC-836MN. It combined DOI: 10.4018/jmhci.2009062601
a handheld calculator with an alphanumeric keypad and had the ability to store up to 30 data entries. Noteworthy in these devices were their applications to the intelligence community. Lexicon founder Michael Levy revealed in 2003 Koblentz (2003) that an encryption module was created for the U.S. National Security Agency, while Toshiba’s product was featured for its own cipher value in the April 1980 issue of Cryptologia. In both cases, the intention was that military and intelligence staff would use proprietary hardware to send data over public landline telephone networks – a technique not dissimilar from modern commercial VPNs. More ambitious devices developed in the realm of science fiction, such as Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on BBC radio beginning in March, and Gordon Dickson’s story Thank you, Beep published that summer1 in the Hewlett-Packard Calculator Journal. It would take time for reality to equal the hype. Miniature landline acoustic modems only available to the defense and intelligence community in 1978 were publicly launched by the
Copyright © 2009, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
2 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage: www.igi-global.com/article/started-mobile-internet-devicesprevious/37457?camid=4v1
This title is available in InfoSci-Journals, InfoSci-Journal Disciplines Communications and Social Science. Recommend this product to your librarian: www.igi-global.com/e-resources/libraryrecommendation/?id=2
Related Content How Do People Use Their Mobile Phones?: A Field Study of Small Device Users Tianyi Chen, Simon Harper and Yeliz Yesilada (2013). Developments in Technologies for Human-Centric Mobile Computing and Applications (pp. 38-55).
www.igi-global.com/chapter/people-use-their-mobilephones/69630?camid=4v1a E-Business in Agribusiness: Investigating the E-Readiness of Australian Horticulture Firms Alemayehu Molla and Konrad Peszynski (2013). ICT Influences on Human Development, Interaction, and Collaboration (pp. 78-96).
www.igi-global.com/chapter/business-agribusiness-investigating-readinessaustralian/68537?camid=4v1a The Network Contract and its Influence on Strategic Decision of Internationalization: Evidence from Italy S. Aureli and M. Del Baldo (2013). International Journal of Applied Behavioral Economics (pp. 23-40).
www.igi-global.com/article/network-contract-its-influencestrategic/77644?camid=4v1a
Automatic Language Translation: An Enhancement to the Mobile Messaging Services Swadesh Kumar Samanta, John Woods and Mohammed Ghanbari (2011). International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction (pp. 1-18).
www.igi-global.com/article/automatic-languagetranslation/49665?camid=4v1a
