Book Review: Cutting the Cord, The Cell Phone Has Transformed Humanity by Martin Cooper

BOOK REVIEW

Cutting the Cord, The Cell Phone Has Transformed Humanity by Martin Cooper

Reviewed by John Facella

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following book has been suggested as interesting reading or as a useful resource. The following review does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by RCA. We welcome suggestions and recommendations from RCA’s members regarding books to share with RCA’s membership. The scope can include technical, regulatory, or other subjects. We encourage you to send your suggestions to David Bart at jbart1964@gmail.com for publication in a future issue of the Proceedings.

This book provides a very nice summary of Marty Cooper’s life’s work in wireless and telecommunications. Dr. Cooper has spent all of his adult life working in the wireless industry, and he has amassed a long list of very major accomplishments, many of which are detailed in this 242 page book. Dr. Cooper has also been a commentator on the impact of technology in our society, and this book outlines his ideas on these topics. In 2010, he was the keynote speaker at RCA’s Annual Awards Banquet in New York City, and at that event Marty talked about his views on the possible future that wireless technology could play in many areas, especially health care. Once again, RCA will have the marvelous opportunity to honor Dr. Cooper when he is our keynote speaker in Denver this November. We all look eagerly forward to his presentation. This review discusses his recent book Cutting the Cord, The Cell Phone Has Transformed Humanity. It is published by Rosetta Books and has the ISBN listing of 978-1-948122-74-0. The list price on the book jacket is $26.99 in the U.S. The book is organized into 18 chapters, presented in two parts. However, I believe the book can actually be viewed as having four major sections, each of which may appeal to different readers: • Motorola History: Chapters 2 through 6 detail the early MTS and IMTS mobile telephone and 2 way radio systems built at Motorola, their entrance into quartz crystal manufacturing, and the company’s relationship with AT&T and Bell Laboratories. • Cellular Telephone System History: Chapters 7 through 9 and 11 explain the AMPS Cellular telephone system and the DynaTAC, the world’s first portable cellular phone, which was designed in three months, but took another ten years to become fully commercialized. • Innovation & Management Advice: Sprinkled throughout chapters 1 through 12 in Part I, and especially in chapter 10 (“Eureka Doesn’t

Happen”), and his one page “Bridge, Marty’s

Maxims” on page 153, are his insights into management and the creative process. • Future Impacts of Wireless on Society: In Part II, chapters 13 to 18, Marty outlines how the cell phone can transform our lives in the areas of poverty, education, collaborative work, and health care.

PART I, CHAPTER 1

In this section Dr. Cooper explains his early family history. He tells how his father moved the family from the Ukraine, which Russian Cossacks had invaded, and then transported the family in a wagon train across Europe into Belgium, where they then went by boat to Canada, and eventually arrived in Chicago, where Marty was born in 1928. Marty graduated from high school in 1946, and then went to the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). He joined the U.S. Naval ROTC program, and eventually served on a heavy cruiser, a destroyer, and a submarine. After three years in the Navy, he returned to civilian life and worked for the Teletype Corporation making teleprinters. But after less than a year there, Marty decided he wanted to work in the electronics field, so in 1954, he joined Motorola as a senior development engineer.

PART I, CHAPTERS 2 TO 6

These chapters will hold special interest for those that worked at, or competed with, Motorola in the 1950s to the 1970s. Chapters 2 and 3 review some of the early projects Marty worked on at Motorola, including a cryptographic machine that was Motorola’s very

first fully transistorized device, a transistorized manual car telephone (MTS) decoder-selector device, and the more automatic IMTS car telephone radios. He also discusses Motorola’s early and somewhat tense relationship with AT&T as well as Motorola’s major competitor General Electric. The rationale of why and how Motorola decided to delve into developing high quality quartz crystals is explained in Chapter 4. Quartz crystals were the predominant frequency determining device within wireless equipment at the time. Motorola became a dominant supplier of crystals as a result of this project. Chapter 5 provides a nice historical overview about many of Motorola’s early products, including the World War II and Korean War “handie-talkie” SCR 536, the Pageboy pager, the HT 220 portable radio, their paging terminals, and Motorola’s work with the Chicago Police Department that led to the first receiver voting systems, which created path/ geographic receive diversity technology. The end of Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 provide insights into Motorola’s leadership at the time and its management philosophies.

PART I, CHAPTERS 7 TO 12

Chapter 7 presents “Cooper’s Law” and explains the proposals from both AT&T and Motorola to the FCC for opening up spectrum that could be used for mobile telephone applications. Chapter 8 discusses how Motorola used theatre as one means of promoting technological change and making the public aware of new advances in wireless, although audiences were skeptical that these changes would occur or that they would be broadly accepted into daily life. Chapter 9 is a key chapter that describes in 26 pages how the first portable cellular telephone, the DynaTAC, was developed in an amazing three months! It would take another ten years to refine the portable cell phone and to develop the infrastructure necessary to support it, but the story of these engineering achievements is inspiring. Chapter 11 details the subsequent versions of the DynaTAC that were built, and explains the regulatory delays that Motorola encountered along the way. The chapter also talks about Motorola’s Technology Roadmap, a process which this author experienced first-hand, and Motorola’s subsequent forays into other technologies. Dr. Cooper explains his views about why Motorola ultimately had to downsize and exit many of its businesses. Chapter 10 is a bit different, and focusses on ways to inspire and encourage corporate innovation. Marty offers a wise perspective from someone who has been a serial technology inventor. Chapter 12 provides a transition that explains some of the other businesses that Marty ventured into after he left Motorola in 1983. The last section of Part I is on page 153, “Marty’s Maxims”, in which he provides a summary of how to fundamentally think about wireless technologies. These offer important reading for any wireless entrepreneur! Interspersed among these chapters in Part I are Cooper’s thoughts about being close to customers, the importance of understanding their needs, view on the problems with monopolies like AT&T, and perspectives on the difficulties of convincing government to adopt new technologies.

PART II

In Part II, Dr. Cooper provides some future predictions about the role wireless technology will play in our lives going forward. Some of these ideas have already started to come to fruition, others will take more time. Marty’s vision of the role that the cell phone and other wireless devices can play in the future is very interesting. His perspective is that the cell phone has improved or will improve many aspects of society. Detractors might question why the book did not examine some of the negative impacts of technology, for example the distraction aspect on school students. But his views, based on decades of experience in serving people’s needs with wireless technology, should be carefully listened to. Chapter 13 explains the adoption rate of wireless phones, and Marty’s oft mentioned belief that connections are made between people and not places.

FRESH CONTENT

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The positive economic impact of wireless technology is explained in Chapter 14. Data is presented on mobile phone adoption in low and middle-income countries. Dr. Cooper presents his view of why spectrum scarcity is a myth, and why we need better ways to assign spectrum in Chapter 15. Chapter 16 is a short discussion on the impact of wireless technologies on education. Chapter 17 discusses creating collaborative work environments. He uses an example of how such collaboration can help to solve problems of hearing degradation in older adults. Chapter 18 traces the possible evolution of health care using wireless technology and artificial intelligence (AI), progressing ultimately to a life adjunct to people he calls Human 2.0.

OVERALL RECOMMENDATION

This book is a must read for anyone in the wireless industry who is interested in its history, interested in the process of making big innovations, or interested in where the future of wireless may be. I enjoyed the candor and frank discussion, and the many insights provided by Dr. Cooper based on his incredible life working in the world of wireless.

Cutting the Cord: The Cell Phone Has Transformed Humanity, Martin Cooper, RosettaBooks, 2021, ISBN 978 1948122740, 264 pages.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

John Facella has a 30+ year career in wireless, including working for Motorola and their largest competitor Harris (now L3 Harris), and a national consulting company. He has also been the chief of executive of several small high tech companies, and served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He graduated from Georgia Tech with a BSEE degree, is a registered professional engineer, and is the current president of the Radio Club of America. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and not an official opinion of RCA.

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