This is a neat write-up of a timeline of the mobile phone over the past ten years. I wrote a similar timeline for the RSA security conference here is Japan last May, but went much further back to the original mobile phones. Wikipedia also has a great timeline in the history section of the mobile phone category. This is something we take for such granted these days, and was a rich man’s novelty just 20 years ago; but even then it was limited to gadgets installed in vehicles for the most part. My claims to this historical bit are – back in 2000, KPMG issued that Sharp camera phone to me, and in 2001 I was one of the first trial customers for the Japan 3G network. However, even back then, Japan cell customers still could not roam overseas! A feature that burned me many times since I was traveling so frequently.
Over the next couple months, in line with my wireless security research, the next target subject will be mobile systems hacking, again. This was a hot subject in enterprise information security around 2005 when the new privacy law was enacted in Japan, but now nobody talks about the issue. Instead, most companies are issuing wide-open mobile phones for each employee like badges; including the less secure iphone and xDroids. I’ll tackle this subject again, and in the end, probably be a walking advertisement for Blackberry.