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Cutting the Cord recognizes that innovation has always been about both standing on others’ shoulders and collaboration. Throughout tech, we all stand on Marty’s shoulders just as he stood on Marconi’s.” —
Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft The cell phone changed the world. It revolutionized how people communicate, freeing them to get in touch with one another at any time and in any place without the constraints of wires. The cell phone led to the creation and growth of new industries. Yet the true story of its creation has not been told…Cutting the Cord tells that story. It centers on a battle for control of how people communicate, involving government regulators, lobbyists, police, technology breakthroughs, failures, quartz, and a horse. At the center of that story is Martin Cooper. This book describes how his early life influenced the creation of the cell phone.
Industry skirmishes became a political war in Washington, a struggle to prevent a monopolistic company from dominating telecommunications. The drama culminates in the first-ever public call made on a handheld, portable telephone—a cell phone. Despite that, the cell phone we know today almost didn’t happen.
Without the vision of a small group at Motorola, the last forty years of history would be different. Their story is inspiring and instructive. After a twenty-nine-year career at Motorola, Cooper became an entrepreneur, helping launch companies dedicated to accelerating cell phone adoption.
The story of the cell phone has much to teach about innovation, strategy, and management. This book also relates Cooper’s vision of the future of personal communications. That story is far from finished. We have only achieved a small fraction of the cell phone’s potential impact.
The cell phone empowers people from all walks of life. It is reshaping how children learn. The ways we work together will soon seem primitive because of continued advances in the cell phone. Most of all, the cell phone will transform medicine and healthcare, contributing to the eradication of disease, elimination of poverty, extension of life, and close coupling of human and artificial intelligence.
