# How many cell phone users in the world were there in 1985?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phone-users-in-the-world-were-there-in-1985/717283>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 10, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phone-users-in-the-world-were-there-in-1985/717283 "2015-04-10T02:10:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phone-users-in-the-world-were-there-in-1985/717283/21 "2015-04-12T23:49:07Z")

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Augmented reality headsets? Not Google Glass, necessarily, but something like it.

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**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-cell-phone-users-in-the-world-were-there-in-1985/717283/22 "2015-04-14T11:56:17Z")

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In the UK one of our main mobile phone retailers wasn’t even founded until 1989 and it was called _Carphone_ Warehouse.

I think I first saw a carphone in summer 1988 (may have been '87) when I was on a hang gliding course in the Peak District and another person on the course had one with all the workings in the boot (trunk) of his car. He was happy showing it off and calling his office, but the rest of us wondered why he couldn’t just take a break from work for a few days like the rest of us!

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