30 years of SMS- the revolutionary Short Messaging Service
Although messaging and video calling services like WhatsApp, Messenger, and Skype have become popular due to the Internet, SMS is still equally important to mobile phone users. From important bank messages to daily communication, reliance on SMS has not decreased even in the smartphone era. 1 out of every 3 mobile users still send SMS from mobile. This text messaging service has been functioning in a full swing for long 30 years at a stretch. Yes, the service has completed 30 years.
Despite the popularity of messaging apps like WhatsApp, Skype, still 20 percent of total mobile users have set SMS apps as their default messaging apps.
According to a recently published survey, 30 percent of total mobile subscribers send SMS every day. In addition, 54 percent of users were compelled to send test messages because the person on the other end was not available on their preferred messaging platform.
Short messaging service was started to send text messages very easily. Although this technology was thought to be developed in 1984, the first SMS was sent on December 3, 1992. An engineer named Neil Papworth sent this message with "Merry Christmas".
Papworth when aged 22, sent the message to then-Vodafone chief Richard Jarvis. Interestingly, perhaps the first text message in history fell victim to the current 'Sin Zone' scandal. When Papworth's message reaches Jarvis, he was at a party. Papworth received no reply.
According to the BBC, Jarvis' phone was an Orbitel 901 model, weighing two kilograms and one hundred grams. That's about the same weight as today's 12 iPhone 14s.
