How smartphone evolved from luxury to a necessity

There were 62.9 million mobile phone devices in Kenya as of the close of March 2023, according to official government statistics. 

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) data show 53 percent of these devices are feature phones while the remaining 47 percent are smartphones.

Today, there are more mobile phones in Kenya than there are people. It has not always been this way. 

Telephony has no doubt evolved massively from the old days of an invention by Alexander Graham Bell in the 1870s.

From a piece of rudimentary cumbersome equipment at the invention, top-notch research and technological advancement birthed the “magic” mobile phone that continues to evolve each day, keeping humanity more connected.

The world’s first commercial hand-held mobile phone was a DynaTAC 8000x by US multinational communication company Motorola.

Popularly referred to as the “brick phone”, the big and heavy 8000X formally entered the market in 1984 at a hefty price that made it a preserve for the ultra-wealthy and locked out the masses.

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Industry records show that the gadget weighing a massive 790 grammes had an introductory price of $3,995 in 1984 (an equivalent of about $11,500 today when adjusted for inflation) or Sh1.58 million despite its small and simplistic screen display and a limiting battery that took up to 10 hours but delivered a talk time of just 30-60 minutes on a single charge.

Fast forward to today, a lot has changed with technological advancement as researchers and creative designers battled to deliver convenience and the best user experiences.

Modern mobile phones are sophisticated and grant users multiple functionalities. From just handling voice calls at the beginning, today a cell phone offers much more such as photography and videography, Internet access, email, text and social media, among other things.

The smartphone has multiple and extremely convenient apps for this and that.

If you forgot your wallet or wanted to send some quick cash electronically through services such as M-Pesa, the smartphone has become a saviour.

All one has to do is to access the service provider’s app, enter the recipient’s detail, and your PIN and it’s done in seconds.

In the circumstances that you are hungry and need to order some food or want to hail a digital taxi to travel from one point to another, smartphone apps will do the job for you.

If you are bored and missing chit-chat with family and friends, the smartphone offers social media apps that will keep you locked to an unending scroll on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, among others.

Apart from the multiple functionalities, smartphones are now also much lighter and manufacturers offer a wider range of prices that even cater to those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

In Kenya, the first mobile phone hit the market in the 1990s, marking a death knell for the once-popular outdoor telephone booths owned by the defunct Kenya Postal and Telecommunication Company (KPTC) – now Telkom Kenya.

Interestingly, the KPTC was among the first to lurch into mobile phone technology after the death of its outdoor phone booths.

The KPTC mobile telephone service did not, however, come cheap. The introductory phase of the State firm’s mobile telephone service in 1992 came with prohibitive terms that required one to have a minimum of Sh60,000 to use the service. This amount translates to more than Sh250,000 today if adjusted for inflation.

The KPTC demanded a Sh20,000 deposit, Sh500 installation fees, Sh1,660 registration fee, and Sh40,000 to purchase a hand-held mobile device.

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The defunct State agency charged Sh25,000 for the acquisition of a car-mounted mobile telephone gadget.

“In order to enable the corporation to plan for this service, which calls for detailed planning and implementation, the corporation requires to know in advance the actual subscriber,” said the KPTC in a 1990 public notice ahead of its planned rollout of mobile phone services in Kenya.

The maiden mobile phone services by the corporation only covered Nairobi, Thika, Mombasa, Malindi, Kabarnet, Nakuru, Kericho, Eldoret and Kisumu.

“KPTC wish, therefore, to request those who would like to subscribe to this service to make written applications accompanied by a commitment fee of Sh10,000,” the KPTC notice further said adding that the payments had to be made through crossed cheques or banker’s orders.

The reign of KPTC in the mobile phone market was, however, short-lived and was soon pushed out following the entry of players such as Safaricom and Zain (now Airtel) upon the liberalisation of the industry in the late 1990s.

The liberalisation of the industry meant dynamism that yielded more affordable gadgets and services over the three decades to date.

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