Why do they still call it a phone?

There is a sentiment, an e commerce held belief that the last CD will be sold somewhere around 2015. As technology evolves we now believe that some of our "old" stuff will eventually disappear, although CDs are only 30 years old they won't be able to compete with online download technology that is taking everything we have and converting it to bytes. So when the last CD has been manufactured and sold will we care at all or will we have moved onto the next phase of communication technology without looking back?

I only ask the question, as in that short space of 30 odd years, some of us still called a CD an album because vinyl had been with us for much longer and eventually made a small resurgence among vinylophyls. So will the CD make a comeback in 20 years because we get nostalgic for the plastic cases and the round plastic discs now used as coasters?

What about the phone, will it make a comeback in 20 years when we once again want to hear people's voices or will it forever be assigned a footnote in technology history as the slow way of communicating that hung around for a long time?

I didn't know the phone call or the phone was dead but it seems that what we carry around in our pockets today are computers for digital communication not voice communication. Two years ago in 2008, text messaging topped mobile phone calling and thanks to continued access to new applications like Twitter the phone call, like the CD, will have an expiry date. No one really cared when the iPhone 4 came out with the reception issues tagged as the "grip of death" because no one was really using the smart phone to make phone calls because it was all about the "apps" and what the future looked like when it came out of your pocket.

We won't stop communicating, we just won't do it by holding an implement up to our ear anymore. Like the obsolete hand written message, the phone call will fade out unless you are over 55 and still remember vinyl. According to Neilsen data, voice usage has been in decline in every age group for the last few years, except over 55. Video conferencing, Google voicing and Skyping on the phone (we'll have to come up with a new name soon) along with texting, browsing and working "apps" will be the choice of 20 somethings who have the say when it comes to sustaining interest in technology advancements.

You know it's happening as you answer and return less phone calls and substitute a quick text to get to the heart of the matter without small talk and frivolous chit chat. The only thing we haven't decided on is a date when we'll stop talking.

I'm not there yet, so call me, I'm in the book. Book, what book?