now, five decades ago an american engineer made history by placing the very first mobile phone call on a busy street corner. and zoe kleinman has been chatting to marty cooper to find out more about that iconic moment. zoe: mobile phones. we love them. the un estimates three quarters of the world s population owns a mobile phone, and there are more mobiles than people in the united kingdom, according to the industry s trade body. this man helped make it all happen. marty cooper was an engineer at motorola. and on 3 april 1973 on a street corner in new york, he made the world s first public mobile phone call to a competitor at a rival company. i was on sixth avenue, demonstrating this cellphone. i took out my phone book that gives you an idea what primitive times these were and i called my counterpart in the bells systems building, joel engel.
CRAIG BROWN: This week marks the 50th anniversary of the first call on a mobile phone. The call was made by Martin Cooper, a Motorola engineer, on April 3, 1973.