book written via cell phone

I don't know if the claim that this is the first book written using a cell phone is true, it's likely the first book written using a phone to be published.

Italian author Robert Bernocco has amazed the literary world by publishing the world’s first book written using a mobile phone. Bernocco published it on Lulu.com, the online marketplace for digital content.

Cristel Lee Leed, European Vice President at Lulu.com, says, “We live in an age when individuals are strapped for time due to work and family commitments, and this can often stifle creativity. Robert Bernocco is a great example of the type of author we often encounter on Lulu — he has not only been creative with what he has written but also with how he has written it!”

Bernocco took advantage of his idle time while commuting to and from work by train, writing his 384-page science fiction novel, Compagni di Viaggo (Fellow Travelers is the English translation), on his Nokia 6630 phone, using the phone’s T9 typing system.

By dividing his manuscript into short paragraphs, Mr. Bernocco wrote his novel in perfect Italian, not your typical text-message shorthand, and saved the paragraphs on his mobile phone. Mr. Bernocco then downloaded them onto his home computer for proofreading and editing. The book took him 17 weeks to write.

It's also interesting that this press release includes none of the stigma that used to be attached to self-publishing -- that this was published through Lulu and not through a "traditional" publisher. That seems even more telling than using a cell phone as a writing tool.