“It hits me when I see someone crossing the street while they’re looking at their mobile. They’ve gone crazy. But if there are more accidents, the awareness will come naturally,” Cooper jokes.
The inventor emphasizes that he is not an opponent of the mobile phone. In fact, Cooper still sees “limitless potential” in the device at his advanced age. He even suspects that it can eventually help to overcome illnesses.
Cooper led the Motorola research team, which invented the first cell phone in 1973. That copy weighed more than a kilo and could only be used for 25 minutes before the battery was empty. It had a price tag of several thousand dollars.
“Battery capacity wasn’t an issue because the weight meant you couldn’t hold the phone that long,” says Cooper.
The American has moved with the times and says he buys the latest iPhone every year. He does say that he is now overwhelmed by the millions of choices of apps that he is confronted with. “I’ll never be able to use it as well as my grandchildren.”
