Every technology enthusiast knows the historic moment: a man stands on a stage, has this one important thing to present that everyone is eagerly awaiting: it's a cell phone. Anyone thinking of Steve Jobs now has taken the wrong turn.  

This historic moment took place back in 1983, when the US company Motorola presented the world's first cell phone. Back then, it was the American Rudy Krolopp who proudly held the new innovation up to the cameras. With a mischievous grin, the former chief designer lifted two thick phones into the air. The photo went around the world.

A new digital age dawned with the photo and the Motorola cell phone. People waiting for an important call no longer had to sit for hours in front of the dial or get tangled up in tangled cables. Today, most people can hardly imagine a world without cell phones. Even though numerous studies show that cell phones lead us to significantly poorer communication, more stress and a more unconscious life, it is impossible to imagine life without this digital addiction. We spend an average of four hours a day looking at our small screens.

However, the Motorola model was still a far cry from today's cell phones. With a weight of 800 grams and its size, it could not easily disappear into a trouser pocket. The name was also rather unwieldy: "DynaTAC 8000X" was the name of the block that the Federal Communications Commission approved as the world's first cell phone in the USA. Initially, it was a product for high earners: the device cost 3,500 dollars, its battery lasted for just one hour of calls and its memory had space for a maximum of 30 numbers.

Should it flop after all? Not at all. In the first year after its release, 300,000 people had already bought it, and the company was raking in dream profits. Motorola, it was clear, had landed a crazy hit, a world first, a sensation. But there is nothing left of it today. With the invention of smartphones at the beginning of the new millennium, Samsung and Apple quickly established themselves as market leaders. So why didn't Motorola make it?

After all, the company had been one of the pioneers on the market since it was founded, chasing one innovation after the next. In 1928, brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin founded the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in Chicago with just one product and five employees. The so-called Galvin Manufacturing Battery Eliminator was intended to supply battery-operated radios with household power in the future. In 1943, the company even made it to the moon: Motorola produced the world's first portable FM radio, which enabled communication from the first moon landing to Earth.

After the enormous breakthrough with the Klotz cell phone in 1983, the tech giant of the time seemed invincible. Krolopp, now 91, was in the news almost every day, especially when Motorola launched what was probably its most striking invention in 1996, an invention that was to enchant the technology world for years to come. This was the so-called StarTAC: the world's first folding cell phone. Once again, the company had succeeded in creating a hit, and not just because of the folding function. Compared to the large brick in 1983, the folding phone now weighed just under 100 grams. Measuring just ten centimetres, it was also the smallest phone available at the time.

It remained the company's trademark for a long time. The second model Motorola presented was even more successful than the first flip phone. With the "Razr", the company created one of the best-selling phones of all time in 2004. The fact that the screen was only 2.2 inches didn't bother anyone back then. After all, emails and Instagram were not yet an issue. In addition to small games, the focus was much more on making calls: users did not answer a call by pressing a button, but simply by opening the phone. If you closed the phone, you hung up. More than one movie star made themselves immortal with this casual movement.

But after the invention of the Razr, it was suddenly over for the giant, over for innovation, over for technology of the future. Too many competitors flooded onto the market. The company repeatedly tried to fight off up-and-coming cell phone providers, especially Apple. For a while, Motorola even tried to have the iPhone banned in Germany for patent reasons - without success. According to the valuation company Interbrand, Apple is now the most valuable company in the world. Motorola is no longer even listed. Because 2011 was the end. The network business of the former giant went to Nokia Siemens. Google took over the cell phone business with the new name Motorola Mobility for 12.5 billion dollars. According to official information, this mainly involved the 17,000 patents that Motorola owned at the time.

However, Google quickly parted ways with Motorola Mobility. The Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo acquired the company in 2014 at a bargain price of around 2.9 billion euros because Google retained the majority of Motorola's patents. 3200 employees had to leave. Today, the Lenovo company reports a profit of around 89 million dollars. The Chinese company is keeping a low profile when it comes to employee numbers and details.

Lenovo has since been trying to find new ways to keep Motorola on the market. In March 2017, the company reported that it would continue to use the "Motorola" brand and logo, relying on its recognition as a traditional cell phone brand. In addition, Motorola President Aymar de Lencquesaing stated that Lenovo plans to discontinue its own-branded smartphones in favor of Motorola.

The company hoped to revive the brand in 2019 with a revival of the Razr foldable smartphone. However, this was again not crowned with success. Also because the company was not alone with the idea. Samsung presented its first foldable smartphone in the same year, which received poor reviews after an initial media hype only a short time later. The folding screen was defective, bent or scratched. Samsung had to react and postponed the launch of its Galaxy Fold by several months in order to rectify the design flaws. Motorola also followed suit. For the Razr, the developers promised that the flexible plastic display would be well protected against scratches.

At the same time, Huawei entered the market with a foldable smartphone. This was one of the competitors that Motorola almost swallowed up. In the same year of the folding phone revival in 2019, the American newspaper "Financial Times" revealed that Motorola almost bought Huawei in 2003. During a walk on the beach on the tropical island of Hainan in 2003, Ren Zhengfei, founder of the Chinese network company Huawei, seriously discussed a takeover with Mike Zafirovski, President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Motorola.

Although both managers signed a letter of intent after the walk and a subsequent game of ping-pong, according to which Motorola could take over the Chinese competitor for 7.5 billion dollars, nothing ever came of it. The deal, which could perhaps have turned Motorola's fortunes around in the coming years, fell through.

Meanwhile, the Razr will not be defeated. Today, Lenovo advertises the phones with the distinctive M with an electronic SIM card. This replaces the physical card with software or a chip in the device. However, it contains the same data that can be downloaded via the Internet. The advantage for users: if all openings to the outside for the SIM, headphones or charging cable disappear in future, it will be significantly more dust and water resistant. According to the GSMA, the global industry association of mobile network operators, around a third of smartphones worldwide will contain the e-SIM by 2025.

The newly launched Razr has already done away with the conventional SIM. Despite this feature, however, the device has not sold well in Germany - and probably won't with the increasing hype surrounding electronic SIM cards. There is a lack of innovation at the former innovation champion - while Apple CEO Tim Cook is already waiting in the wings with the next iPhone generation and new ideas.

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