The man who invented cell phones predicts that in the future, phones won’t look like the black rectangular slabs we’re used to.
The man widely credited with inventing the phone in 1973 told CNBC at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday that the next generation will have the phone embedded under the skin of their ears.
Cooper remarked that “your body is the perfect charger” for such devices, so charging them won’t be necessary. Isn’t it true that when you eat, your body produces energy?
When you eat, your body produces fuel. The energy needed to power this earpiece is minimal,” he continued.
He foresees a time when people’s bodies will be enhanced with powerful microchips and sensors.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink is just one example of a number of startups working on technologies that aim to bridge the gap between computers and the human brain.
Cooper complained that modern smartphones are too complicated due to the proliferation of apps and the shape of the screen, which is no longer comfortable to use with one’s face.
Without an earpiece, “I have to take this flat piece of material against my curved head and hold my arm up in an awkward position every time I make a phone call,” he explained.
The smartphone industry has been struggling to come up with new innovative designs for the past few years, and the market has reflected that.
Many issues, such as excessive time spent on social media and invasions of privacy, have arisen as a direct result of the widespread use of mobile devices in modern life.
“Privacy is a very serious problem, addiction is a problem,” Cooper said, recognizing the flaws in his invention.
But he sounded upbeat about the future, saying that the technology’s best days may still be ahead of it in areas like education and healthcare.
I believe in people,” Cooper said. I think about how far we’ve come technologically and how people have always managed to figure it out.
In this new era, people’s lives are much more favorable. And their lifespans improve. Their standard of living has increased, and their health has improved. There are good times and bad. However, humankind as a whole is making strides forward.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the first phone call being made on Sixth Avenue, Cooper was presented with a lifetime achievement award at MWC this week. He called his main rival at AT&T, Joel S. Engel, using a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, a device made famous in the movie Wall Street.
Cooper says that he would have never guessed that phones would evolve into minicomputers.
