It might seem hard to believe but the mobile phone was first introduced to the UK in 1985. Just 27 years later and the device that we now love is hardly recognisable to those first Motorola handsets. And it's not just the size and battery life that's changed. Let's face it, if you were to upgrade your handset tomorrow, would you just be looking for one that can make calls!
Considered the top executive toy, the mobile phone became the status symbol of the Yuppie - short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly mobile professional". Today, with more handsets than people on the planet, it's changing more than the way we communicate, but consigning some parts of every day life to the history books.
The humble phone box - Last year, BT announced that almost a quarter of phone boxes in Wales were making less than one call a month with just 3% of adults using them..
The red letter box - Far less of them as fewer of us send letters.
Fax machine - Would our kids even know what this is?
Cameras - While digital cameras obliterated film cameras, they are now facing their own nemesis alongside video cameras.
Music - You had record players, cassette players, Walkmans, the Boom box all confined to history!
TV - As screens become bigger, with better resolution, it is now possible to watch your favourite programmes when out and about.
Games Console - Looks like their days are numbered too.
Signature - Mobile phones are becoming so integral to everyday life, they're capable of confirming our identities. This could mean, one day, we'll no longer need to sign for things. For example, two factor authentication (2FA) combines something you know, with something you have - an existing example of 2FA in action is 'chip and pin' for authorising credit and debit card payments. When accessing corporate networks, completing financial transactions, etc. mobiles offer the perfect tokenless 2FA solution. A passcode is received as an SMS, which you then key in to confirm your identity.
Maps & tracking device - With GPS functionality, it's hardly surprising mobiles are replacing maps, satellite navigation specific devices and telephone books.
Banking - Today, you can practically carry your high street branch on your handset.
Money - You can now turn your phone into a cash machine turning it into a credit card, look at Barclays Pingit where you can make payments of between £1 and £300.
I'm sure you'll agree, your smartphone is so much more than just a way to talk to people - you're practically carrying your life on it. If you lose it, how devastated would you be? For organisations the risk is too awful to contemplate and for that reason many are adding encryption to prevent any information on the device being stolen. Perhaps its time we all follow their lead and take pre-emptive action to protect these modern miracles. SecurEnvoy offer SMS passcodes, the equivalent to a chubb lock, so only you can access all your important information, so it remains secure from prying eyes.
Love it or loath it the smartphone has completely revolutionised our lives. And our living rooms, bedrooms, offices, cars ... The question on my mind is, in the next twenty five years, will there by anything smarter than the smartphone or will it have taken over the world - cue villainous laughter and white cat stroking.