"There's more computing power in the latest smartphone than was used by the whole of Nasa to first put a man on the moon," Vodafone consumer director Matt Williams said.
"Landlines will eventually be a thing of the past and it'll happen sooner than you think, already there are more mobile phones in New Zealand than people - 4.77 million of them, and we expect roughly 90 per cent of our own customers to have a mobile this year, that's pretty staggering."
Mr Williams said the biggest change since the launch of mobile was "without a doubt" the move to smartphones, which had allowed data accessibility and connectivity to increase at a rapid pace.
He said changes over the years had all been geared towards making phones an integral part of daily life.
"More recently we've seen increasingly bigger screens, extendable camera lenses, heart-rate monitors and so much functionality that smartphones - the biggest trend of all - are the central point of many people's lives.
"It's amazing to think that in just 2000, the first mobile phone with MP3 music capability was launched, and look where we are now."
Later in the year, the first mobile came out, weighing 5kg and bolted into car boots, the first completely portable mobile was also released, christened "the brick" and weighing 750g. The first mobiles cost the equivalent today of around 5000 ($10,343) and despite the size, cost and inconvenience, were quickly adopted by those who could afford them. The speed of technology saw the mobile phone evolve rapidly. The trend for smaller and more practical phones has reversed since the rise of the smartphone, with screen sizes increasing again, and with the latest iPhone 6 series far larger than the original iPhone.
Despite this, Mr Williams says the future is in wearables.
"There has been a real rise in wearable devices which do things like help you monitor your health and wellbeing," he said.
"We see next generation models going even further, expanding 'wellbeing' beyond just measuring heart rate and blood pressure and moving into preventative applications."
Mr Williams said the healthcare sector was likely to benefit the most from this initially, with connectivity and sensors reading things such as sugar levels for diabetics and detection indicators for conditions such as Alzheimers and asthma. These sensors would all be connected and monitored by an individual's smartphone.
He said consumer demand was growing for everything from faster processors and network speeds to longer battery life and better cameras. The increasing connectivity from all devices was also going to change the way people lived.
"Your smartphone will continue to be the central point for our lives and eventually control everything.
"We're managing our finances with them, we'll be controlling heating, home security, television - you name it," he said, and "there's certainly more to come."
Mobile milestones
• 1985: The first mobile voicemail.
• 1987: The first mobile phone in a blockbuster movie (Lethal Weapon).
• 1994: First mobile game - Tetris.
• 1997: The first mobile photo sent.
• 1998: The first mobile phone without an antenna (antenna internalised).
• 1999: Vodafone launches text messaging in NZ.
• 2000: First mobile with MP3 music capability.
• 2005: 3G arrives in NZ.
• 2008: iPhones launched in NZ.
• 2013: Vodafone 4G arrives.
