Who would have predicted the telephone’s evolution to the role it has in our lives today? A lot has happened since 1876 when Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone. The telephone also has its roots in the telegraph, with popular inventor Samuel F. B. Morse, along with by many other contributors to the evolutionary process.
Some telephones in the early 1900’s resembled wall-mounted oak furniture. They were equipped with batteries to support voice transmission and a crank to operate a magneto and generate ringing.
Initially there were no telephone exchanges. However, Western Union applied the principle of telegraph exchanges to its telephones in New York City and San Francisco. Fast forward to the present with the proliferation of telephone exchanges around the world accompanied by private branch exchanges (PBXs) in businesses everywhere. These have evolved to include analog, digital and VoIP technologies.
Take a step back to 1983 when Motorola Introduced the DyanaTAC cellular phone. We have witnessed cell phones evolve immensely since then. Today’s smart phones are a prime example as they keep being re-invented. Now you can not only have a conversation, you can email, text, take a picture, play a video, browse the internet or run one of the thousands of applications. Those of you with children will know how hard it is to put parental restrictions on anything electronic. Smart phones even enable you to track your child with a GPS locator, lock out questionable website addresses, and more. 
A more recent development allows your smart phone to be an extension connected to your office PBX. A prime example is NEC’s Multiline Client (MLC) Mobile. This provides anywhere, anytime access by moving NEC’s desktop telephone functionality, including unified communications, onto a user’s Android™ or Apple® mobile device. It allows call response to be immediate, regardless of the user’s location. Emulating the intuitive interface of an NEC 32-button self-labeling phone display, MLC Mobile solves the business challenge of customers and colleagues being able to reach your mobile workforce. It gives your mobile workforce the visual displays and features needed to perform their job intelligently, while remaining connected. Following is a view of this app on a smart phone:
Users are able to transfer their NEC desktop telephone to their personal handheld Android or Apple device, while maintaining their call connection. Calls are initiated or can continue via Wi-Fi or LTE connection.
You may ask, “what’s next?” Who knows? You may not have to wait long for an answer!
