The Mobile Phone Museum has partnered with the PK Porthcurno, Museum of Global Communications in a new exhibition on the 40-year history of the mobile phone.
The Mobile Phone Museum, was started as an online resource by CCS Insight chief analyst Ben Wood and now has more than 2,700 devices in its collection
The ‘Going Mobile’ event is sponsored by Vodafone UK and includes over 70 phones and objects selected from the Mobile Phone Museum’s collection which ranges from the earliest ‘brick’ devices of the 1980s, through flip phones, sliders, and clamshells, to the latest smartphones. It will be the first time that the phones have been on public display as a collection.
The exhibition covers the development of mobile phone communications dating back to 1840 with a combination of photos, objects, illustrations, and animations. It explains the evolution of the ‘generations’, how a mobile phone call works, and the timeline of mobile milestones?
Said Ben Wood:
“When it started. the Mobile Phone Museum was conceived as a virtual museum hosted online at mobilephonemuseum.com. We did not think it was realistic to have a physical museum given the ongoing costs and time involved. The pandemic had begun a permanent physical location was a non-starter. n. We also felt that a virtual museum enabled it to have global reach with relatively limited overheads. Also, it gave us a chance to build the collection and the collateral that went with it.
“However, we’ve had so many requests from people who want to see some of our collection that we have partnered with PK Porthcurno, Museum of Global Communications. Working with PK Porthcurno will also help us to continue developing the education goals for the Mobile Phone Museum charity with a focus on inspiring the next generation of engineers and designers in the UK by using our extensive collection of devices and learning resources.”
Andrea Dona, Chief Network Officer, Vodafone added:
“Vodafone made the first UK mobile phone call in 1985, so the exhibition is a great way to bring that history to life. Vodafone has long relationships with both PK Porthcurno and the Mobile Phone Museum, so it was fantastic to be able to bring the two together. A number of our engineers trained at the college which used to be on the site of the museum, so Porthcurno is very much in Vodafone’s DNA.”
??Julia Twomlow, Chief Executive and Creative Director, PK Porthcurno said,?
“We had great fun working with the Mobile Phone Museum’s fabulous collection which the has put together in the last few years. Looking back at the history and rapid evolution of mobile technology was thought-provoking for all of us. Today, they are so much part of our lives that it’s hard to remember a time when we were without them.”