the.com/mobile
A computer pretending to be a phone, betting you'll never put it down.
means Able to move or be moved freely, or — increasingly — the pocket-sized phone-computer we carry everywhere.
from From Latin 'mobilis,' meaning movable, itself worn down from 'movibilis' off the verb 'movere,' to move — the same root that gives us 'motion,' 'motive,' and 'momentum.' For centuries 'mobile' simply meant capable of movement; the 'mobile phone' sense is a 20th-century arrival, naming the device by the very thing that set it apart from the wired telephone bolted to your wall.
- origins
- Alexander Calder named his hanging sculptures mobiles in 1931
- global reach
- More mobiles exist than humans on Earth
- city
- Mobile, Alabama, threw America's first Mardi Gras
- latin root
- Comes from mobilis, meaning easily moved
- screen time
- Average user taps their phone over 2,000 times daily
nokia 3310 — indestructible phone released in 2000, sold over 126 million units worldwide
iphone — apple's touchscreen phone launched june 2007, revolutionized the industry
motorola razr — ultra-thin flip phone released 2004, sold 130 million units