31-03-2023

The first call with a cell phone took place 50 years ago. Since then a technological and digital revolution has begun. It was April 3, 1973, when American engineer Martin Cooper, the son of Ukrainian immigrants, made the first call from New York with a portable cell phone.

“Our smartphones are now full of complex technology and have become a pocket ‘information system’.” These were the words of Alessandro Mantelli, Chief Technology Officer for Almaviva, to Adnkronos.

“We’re observing its evolution in terms of sustainability and energy consumption, one of the trends of evolution. Furthermore, the advent of wearable devices confirms the smartphone as a portal between the physical and digital worlds.” “It has been a lengthy and complex technological journey,” Mantelli recalls.

Today “we have a digital universe and data that’s growing exponentially” and the cell phone “is our primary means of access.”

Cybersecurity is a fundamental topic. “We address smartphone security, how to make them increasingly secure - think of security by design - because this is essential.” Mantelli talks about how much work is being done in Almaviva’s labs “on telemedicine and with the world of culture” since “smartphones allow us to frame monuments and objects and give us access to digital information, perhaps even supported by a digital assistant that appears within the phone, with augmented reality overlaying physical reality.” Innovations, he emphasizes, “that can also be applied to industrial settings.”

Today, smartphones are increasingly linked to wearable objects “such as smart glasses that are an evolution of the smartphone ecosystem,” Mantelli also remarks. Not to mention everything that the Metaverse will offer. “Cooper didn’t expect any of this 50 years ago,” assures the engineer, “and neither did we until five years ago.”