Motorola Begins Developing First Handheld Mobile Phone

Invention

Motorola press-release page dated April 3, 1973, headed Motorola Demonstrates Portable Telephone. — Motorola’s original April 3, 1973 press release announcing its handheld DynaTAC telephone demonstration. Motorola, Inc., Communications Division. Original document preserved by Motorola Solutions Heritage. Image source.

Motorola annonuced the development of the Dyna-Tac. It would not commercially available, however, until 1983. The development of mobile devices is seen by artist Casey Reas as an important pre-condition for NFTs.

Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.

Sources

Naha, Abhi and Peter Whale. Essentials of Mobile Handset Design. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

People

Casey Reas

Movements

digital art

Filed under

Ideas: digital art, NFT Art, technology adoption, Technology and Art
Technologies: DynaTAC, mobile phones, NFTs
People: Casey Reas
Organisations: Motorola

Echoes across time

Le Random editorials

Casey Reas, Lauren Lee McCarthy & Chandler McWilliams on Expanding Software, Peter Bauman, August 20, 2024
Casey Reas on the History of Generative Art - Part 2, Peter Bauman, July 5, 2023
Casey Reas on the History of Generative Art - Part 1, Peter Bauman, June 22, 2023

Explore all Le Random editorials and artist interviews

Le Random podcast

Elevating the Generative Art Space (Launch Episode) with Casey Reas, ciphrd, Anne Spalter, Anika Meier & Georg Bak — listen with transcript on Le Random (28 Jun 2023, 52 min). Featuring Casey Reas. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
Timeline Ch 8—Tooling Era (2000s) with Christiane Paul, Casey Reas, Christa Sommerer & Golan Levin — listen with transcript on Le Random (15 May 2024, 64 min). Featuring Casey Reas. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
Timeline Ch 5—Artist-Programmer Era (1970s) with Joan Truckenbrod, Hans Dehlinger & Anika Meier — listen with transcript on Le Random (14 Jan 2024, 65 min). Chapter 5’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify