The mobile phone has become somewhat of a mainstay of popular culture and social interaction. Mobile phones are used for so many different purposes that many people would be hard put to imagine a world without them.
Despite this, the popular use of mobile phones is still a fairly recent phenomenon. There was once a time when fixed line phones were the only way of contacting someone who was not already in our company. Theoretically, these days anyone can be contacted at any time either through traditional phone calls to their mobile, or by using one of the many other services that they come with. They can also receive texts and emails (if the phone has a suitable internet connection).
But then it is not just communication that phone are used for. They also have alarm clocks, calendars, calculators, video games, organisers, music playback facilities, cameras, stopwatches, the ability to receive radio as well as other internet facilities. It is this ability to use the mobile phone to do anything that makes them so popular.
It is also why mobile phones are going to be around for a long time.