In 1909, Nikola Tesla talked to a New York Times reporter about, er, mobile telephony. Popular Mechanics republished the NYT interview in their October 2009 issue and you can read it all at Google Books. Here's what Tesla said, 100 years ago:



It will soon be possible, for instance, for a business man in New York To dictate instructions and have them appear instantly in type in London or elsewhere. He will be able to call up from his desk and talk with any telephone subscriber in the world. It will only be necessary to carry an inexpensive instrument not bigger than a watch, which will enable its bearer to hear anywhere on sea or land for distances of thousands of miles. One may listen or transmit speech or song to the uttermost parts of the world.