Number of Cellphones Now Equal To Half the Human Species

netbuzz writes "A major milestone was reached today, according to communications industry analysts: there are now some 3.3 billion mobile phone accounts worldwide. Of course, it doesn't really mean half the world's population has a cell phone, since users in 59 countries average more than one per person. '"The mobile industry has constantly outperformed even the most optimistic forecasts for subscriber growth," Mark Newman, head of research at Informa said in a statement. "For children growing up today the issue is not whether they will get a mobile phone, it's a question of when," Newman said. In recent years the industry has seen surging growth in outskirts of China and India, helped by constantly falling phone and call prices, with cellphone vendors already eyeing inroads into Africa's countryside to keep up the growth.'"

So there's only 0.5 cell phones?

[Foerstner]

Or are their billions of human species besides Homo Sapiens?

Or...did they mean half the human population?

I've hate telephones ever since I was in the Navy

[shoor]

I had a job in the Navy where I was on the phone all the time. I realize
phones are useful, and I still use them, but I kind of cringe when I see
people driving and talking, or jaywalking and talking. And whenever I
happen to overhear a snippet of conversation is usually something like,
"Oh I'm on xyz street, where are you?"

I still need my quiet time, my time when I'm left alone, to think or chill.

Oh, and I'm not writing poetry with these line breaks. I spent many years
pounding on manual typewriters, and years on 80x24 character display
terminals, DEC VT-100s and various Hazeltine models mostly. It feels weird
not to hit that carriage return on a regular basis.

Better than landline infrastructure

[dal20402]

There's a reason this growth has happened and will continue.

Developing countries are going straight to cell networks rather than bothering with landlines. The infrastructure is far cheaper (no last-mile problem) andthe technology is more convenient for users. That's a win-win if ever there was one.

As still-mostly-undeveloped areas in Africa, Asia, and South America continue making progress, so will this industry. Time to go buy some stock.

And for those Luddites proudly proclaiming their cellphone-free status: Your position is nonsense. The cell phone is cheaper than your landline (if you get the right plan). And it comes with the ability to carry it, if you like. Here's a hint: you don't have to carry it all the time, and you don't have to have the phone or the ringer on if you don't want to. I think you all are just being willfully obtuse because you don't like the kind of people you associate with cellphones.

I haven't had a landline in nine years, since I got rid of dialup. I just can't see the point.

milestone?

[vimh42]

Great milestone. "For children growing up today the issue is not whether they will get a mobile phone, it's a question of when" I asked my daughter to write up a Christmas list. You can guess what made it on the list. Yes that's right. A cell phone. She's six. I don't like the trend.

Re:Better than landline infrastructure

[solios]

...or some of us are just being "willfully obtuse" because either:

A. We can't afford another bill, no matter how "cheap" other people claim it to be.

or

B. We're sick to death of overhearing half of loud inconsiderate conversations on the bus, waiting for the bus, on the streat, in line at the store, etc. and can't fathom being that willfully obtuse to our fellow man.

I'd carry a celphone distruptor before I'd cary a celphone. No plans to hassle with, no monthly bills. Just the occasional battery and the certain knowledge of a little peace and quiet (or at least some reflected frustration) when some asshat starts bellowing NO NO YOU'RE BREAKING UP I CAN'T HEAR YOU AUGH in the middle of rush hour.

Re:Never had one, probably never will.

[Beardo the Bearded]

The whole point of /. is to have a series of "stupid reasons" and "equally stupid counter-arguments". It's not like we're doing anything even remotely productive. I've even managed to meta-troll your post.

Every thread will spin uncontrollably into previously unimaginable levels of stupidity.

Re:Never had one, probably never will.

[SydShamino]

My guess would be that you were modded troll because you were being overly smug. (Shrug, I'm an EE too. I know where my products are used, but no one else reading or posting on this topic cares.)

I have a cell phone. It cost me $8.95. My minutes cost me $90 per year. Only my dad and my wife know the number, and both know I don't like being called. It doesn't mean I'm better (or worse) than anyone else, it just means I don't like being permanently connected a large number of distant (read: not my wife or dad) acquaintances and have no need to chat with anyone constantly.

Other people feel differently, and are perfectly happy to pay $50 a month in pursuit of their goal. My wife, for instance.

Re:I agree completely

[_ivy_ivy_]

How is driving a stick shift distracting, unless your driving skill are lacking? If anything, a manual transmission makes you far more aware of what your car is doing at any given moment.

Here!

[Fantastic Lad]

How about it? Is there anyone else left here who also hasn't got a cell phone?

Present and accounted for!

Land line. My cold, dead hands.

I don't wear a dog collar. I get great reception. Costs less. And my brain is not fuzzed out with the mind-control radiation.

Oh, they laugh. They all laugh! (Well, they don't do it to my face, cuz they know that a guy who speaks with my brand of conviction will only make them read a bunch of boring technical notes to prove his position while they only have colorful pamphlets offering mobile deals).

Okay. I'll crawl back into the woodwork now. --People can find me easily enough, though. Just follow the copper pair.

-FL

Why people want cellphones

[qinjuehang]

Cellphones used to be used just to call people. That was back when they are not necessary, simply because we have public phones everywhere. But cellphones are much more useful than that nowadays. With 3G or even 3.5G connections, people are reading news headlines off a RSS feed using their cellphone, checking email using their cellphone, video calling their lady friends in the subway...these are things that public phones CANNOT do. Not forgetting the good old games. So face it. Cellphones are closing in on PDAs in terms of hardware. Many of them even have Wi-Fi, one of the major advantages of PDAs and PocketPCs over cellphones. The only reason their software is not as complex is because they use their own OSes. But with Nokia smartphones using modified Linux and Firefox, the gap between cellphones and PocketPCs are closing. Except that PocketPCs use Windows, maybe.

Re:The future of computing

[The One and Only]

Nonsense. I can always tell that people who seriously think voice-driven UI's will displace all other forms of input either haven't seriously written anything in their lives, or are probably extremely poor writers. I'm not just saying this because I'm the quiet writer type--even the most chatty and extraverted people on earth (teenage girls) prefer using the world's worst keyboards to communicate with each other than actually speaking. Just in this very comment I was able to change the thrust of my argument and carefully consider what I was going to say instead of verbally leading you down each false path that came to mind as I thought. Were I speaking to you, or dictating this post into the computer, it would have been more of a struggle. And if it's easier to compose a well-worded Slashdot comment by keyboard than by voice, imagine a dissertation.