2023-12-19 15:55:00
SMS celebrated its 31st birthday this month. The very first text message was sent by Vodafone engineer Neil Papworth in the UK. A tense moment because the purpose of this shipment was to test this new technological system. Far from touchscreen smartphones with flat screens, the device weighed 2.1 kilos. The recipient of the text: Richard Javis, Neil’s supervisor. This first one was at a Christmas party when it was sent. This determined the content of the first SMS in history: “Merry Christmas”.
An unstable evolution
It is with these two little words that the era of SMS was born. But this discovery did not evolve upon its success. Vodafone explains that a year passed before Nokia implemented the feature on its phone. Since then, the use of this feature has taken its place in the fingers of a multitude of users. Neil, father of SMS, explained in 2017: “In 1992, I had no idea how popular SMS would become and that it would give rise to emoticons and messaging apps used by millions of people. It wasn’t until recently that I told my kids that I sent that first text message. Looking back, it’s clearer to see that the Christmas message I sent was a pivotal moment in mobile history.
After many years of success, SMS has been declining in use since 2022. Today, the main exchange channels have become applications. SMS usage is expected to continue to plummet. Still, this epic was a success beyond the expectations of its designer.
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