In April 1973, Motorola engineer Martin Cooper starred in
an event that would revolutionize technology
.
That day, exactly 50 years ago, he made the first successful call from a cell phone.
He prophesied that he “knew that this was just the beginning” and that these first 5 decades
“were just a warm-up exercise”
.
He couldn't be more right.
Mobile telephony today is the center of global innovation.
Motorola was born setting new directions and creating patents.
In 1930, two years after it was founded in the United States, it launched the first car radio, for example.
Only in 1983, 10 years after the historic phone call,
did he manage to introduce the
DynaTAC 8000x
, the first mobile phone in history.
It led the business for many years, but in 2014, after a deep crisis,
it was acquired by the Chinese conglomerate Lenovo.
The cell phone evolved in such a way that it displaced computers as
the central axis of communications, information and entertainment
.
Technological leaps have allowed the incorporation of text messages (2G), Internet, email with mobile broadband (3G), full-resolution videos (4G) and now the multiple connection of electronics, cars and machines (5G).
Argentina is no stranger to these developments.
Motorola was a giant in the mobile phone industry.
But over time,
it was first displaced by Finland's Nokia
at the turn of the new millennium, which also fell out of favor with the advent of
smartphones and touchscreens deployed by Samsung and Apple's iPhones
, considered the world's two largest manufacturers.
The industry today is going through a very particular moment.
In 2022, 1,210 million units were sold (11% less than the previous year),
the lowest figure since 2013.
The ranking is led by Samsung (21.6% of the market) and Apple (18.8%).
It is followed by three Chinese brands: Xiaomi (12.7%), Oppo (8.6%) and Vivo (8.2%).
Motorola has a strong presence in Latin America.
As an appendage of Lenovo, Motorola is the second most sold brand in Argentina.
Together with Samsung they concentrate more than 90% of the total market.
He was co-responsible for the first mobile call in the country with Movicom, in November 1989, which was made with
a brick-shaped telephone that was carried in a suitcase.
It was made by the then controller of ENTel, María Julia Alsogaray (she called Carlos Menem), 6 years after the debut of mobile telephony in the United States.
"In 1993, Telecom and Telefónica began to compete with Movicom through Miniphone," says consultant Enrique Carrier.
In 1990, one year after the official launch,
there were barely 15,000 lines in service in the country
.
The first big leap occurs in 1997, which closed with more than 2 million devices in use.
“It was when the caller, pays modality came into effect,” recalls Carrier.
In December 2014, 4G was launched commercially in Argentina (the 4th generation), "which lays the foundations for current mobile communications," adds the specialist.
Since that year, the number of lines
has stabilized between 55 and 62 million lines
, a figure that varies depending on the economic context.
For its part, Motorola maintains its validity in several Latin American countries, including Argentina.
In recent months, the brand has resisted the advance of Xiaomi, which launched an offensive in the region, in many of which it fights for first place.
In Argentina, it is associated with the Etercor group, which has a foot in Tierra del Fuego with its company Solnik.
The clamp on imports complicated the plans to enter the market more aggressively, which also includes the development of a chain of stores in the main cities of the country.
Motorola, likewise, claims to be a pioneer in introducing in Argentina the first cell phones suitable for 5G technology and the first folding devices.
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