The Guardian Weekly - Mobile Phones

8/11/2019 The Guardian Weekly - Mobile Phones

1/6 NEWS LESSONS / Mobile phones have transformed the way we communicate / Intermediate

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Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2010

Mobile phones have transformed the way we communicate

Level 2 Intermediate

Answer these questions and then talk about your answers in class.

Do you have a mobile phone?

Did you have a mobile phone ve / 10 / 15 years ago?

Do you know anyone between the ages of 18 and 60 who does not have a mobile phone?

How many mobile phones are there in your home?

Warmer 1

Key words2

Write the words from the article into the gaps. The paragraph numbers will help you choose the right words.

_______________ are tall metal structures used for broadcasting radio and television, and telephone signals.1.(para 3)

the possibility to develop or achieve something in the future _______________ (para 3)2.

calculated how big or successful something would become in the future using information that was available at3.the time _______________ (para 4)

A _______________ is a sudden increase in the popularity of something. (para 6)4.

paying some of the cost of goods or services so that they can be sold to other people at a lower price5. _______________ ( para 7)

the prices charged for supplying gas or electricity or for providing a telephone service _______________6.(para 7)

new and unusual things _______________ (para 9)7.

very famous and well known, and believed to represent a particular idea _______________ (para 11)8.

to change the way something looks or works so that it is exactly what you want or need _______________9.(para 11)

happening or existing as the nal result of a process or situation _______________ (para 12)10.

novelties tariff boom culminating masts

projected customize potential iconic subsidizing



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In just 25 years, the mobile phone hastransformed the way we communicate

Richard WrayFriday 1 January 2010

On New Years Day, 1985, Michael Harrisonphoned his father, Sir Ernest, to wish him ahappy new year. Sir Ernest was chairman ofRacal Electronics, the owner of Vodafone, andhis son was making the rst-ever mobile phonecall in the UK.

Later that morning, comedian Ernie Wise made avery public mobile phone call from St KatherinesDock, east London, to announce that Vodafonewas now open for business. A few days later, itsonly rival, Cellnet, a joint venture between BTand Securicor, was in business.

At the time, mobile phones weighed almost akilogram, cost several thousand pounds and, insome cases, provided only 20 minutes talktime.The networks themselves were small; Vodafonehad just a dozen masts covering London and thearea west of London, while Cellnet started witha single mast, stuck on the BT Tower. Neithercompany had any idea of the huge potential ofwireless communication and the dramatic impactthat mobile phones would have over the nextquarter century.

We projected there would only be about amillion ever sold and we would get about 35%of the market and BT projected there would beabout half a million and they would get about80% of the market, remembers Sir ChristopherGent, former Vodafone chief executive who wasat St Katherines Dock a quarter of a centuryago. In the rst year, we sold about 15,000to 20,000 phones. The portable Motorola wasabout 3,000 but most of the phones we soldwere car phones from companies such asPanasonic and Nokia.

Hardly anyone believed there would come a daywhen mobile phones were so popular that therewould be more phones in the UK than there arepeople. But in 1999 one mobile phone was soldin the UK every four seconds, and by 2004 therewere more mobile phones in the UK than people.

The boom was a result of increased competition which pushed prices lower and createdinnovations in the way that mobileswere sold, which helped put them within thereach of the mass market and the move todigital technology.

In 1986 BT did something which was to changethe way that mobile phones were sold in the UK.We started subsidizing handsets and bringingdown the price of phones, Sir Christopherrecalls. Ever since then, the mobile phonenetworks have subsidized the price of a phone,hoping to recover the costs over the lifetime ofa customers contract. Cellnet also changed itsprices, reducing its monthly charge and relyinginstead on actual call charges. It also introducedlocal call tariffs.

But there was still a basic block to mobilephones going mass market: not enough capacity.But when digital came along, that really openedup the market, said Sir Christopher.

When the government introduced morecompetition, companies started cutting pricesto attract more customers. The campaign, Thefutures bright, the futures Orange, createdby Wolff Olins, and the introduction of suchnovelties as per second and itemized billinghelped give Orange a strong position in themarket. In 1999, Virgin Mobile had a big successwith the new idea of pre-pay phones.

The way that handsets themselves weremarketed was also changing and it was Finlands

Nokia who made the leap from phones astechnology to phones as fashion items with theNokia 3210 device.

The Nokia 3210 is iconic because it is the rstphone that deliberately did not display anysort of external aerial. In the late 1990s Nokiarealized that the mobile phone was a fashionitem: so it offered interchangeable coverswhich allowed you to customize and personalizeyour handset.

The mobile phone industry has spent the laterpart of the past decade trying to persuadepeople to do more with their phones than just

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Comprehension: Find the information3

The rst-ever mobile phone call in the UK was made by a comedian.1.

Vodafone and Cellnet were the rst two mobile phone providers in the UK.2.

In 1985, car phones cost 3,000.3.

There are now more mobile phones than people in the UK.4.

Digital technology and increased competition allowed the mobile phone to become available to everyone.5.

Interchangeable covers and itemized billing made Nokias 3210 handset a fashion item.6.

Providers Orange and Virgin introduced itemized billing and pre-pay phones.7.

According to the chief technology of cer at Ericsson we will no longer want to buy mobile phones in the future.8.

Touch screen phones are no longer being produced.9.

The future of the mobile phone lies in machine to machine communication.10.

Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the article? Correct any false statements.

call and text, culminating in the ght between theiPhone and a succession of touch screen rivals including Googles Nexus One.

John Cunliffe, chief technology of cer atEricsson in north-west Europe, believes thenext wave of growth for mobile telephony willcome not from persuading more people to geta phone because many already have one but connecting machines to wireless networks.Everything from company vehicles and smartelectric and water meters to peoples fridge

freezers will one day be able to communicate.

At the moment there are 4.5 billion handsetsworldwide. At Ericsson we believe there will be50 billion by 2020, reckons Cunliffe. This isall about machine-to-machine communication,touching all aspects of our lives.

Guardian News & Media 2010

First published in The Guardian , 01/01/10

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Discussion5

Compare the mobile phone you have now to the very rst one you had.

What additional features does your current phone have?How has the design changed?What else is different?What do you think mobile phones will be able to do in the future?

Webquest6Search the Internet for information about Googles Nexus One phone.

When was it launched?What can you do with it?What is likely to be its main competitor?Is it already available in your country?If so, how much does it cost?Would you consider buying one?



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2 Key words

Masts1.potential2.projected3.boom4.subsidizing5.tariff 6.novelties7.iconic8.customize9.culminating10.

3 Comprehension: Find the information

F1.T2.F3.T4.T5.

F6.T7.F8.F9.T10.

4 Language: Collocations

f 1.e2.g3.c4.i5.h6.a7.

j8.b9.d10.

Teachers notes

If your students own smart phones or iPods theymay be interested to know that there are many freedownloads or apps available which will help them learnand revise English via their handsets. These includepodcasts, vocabulary trainers, language games and

dictionaries. One way to nd the latest is by going towww.apple.com and to the iTunes store and typing inwords such as English or vocabulary traineror dictionary.

KEY

Documents

The Guardian Weekly - Mobile Phones