It’s been 30 years since the first SMS was sent. In these years, SMS have earned a leading role, first in communications between friends and relatives, and then also between companies and customers . Today, SMS are part of our daily lives, but take email marketing service on the occasion of this very important birthday, 30 years of SMS, we want to tell you their story.
The first SMS was Merry Christmas
December 3, 1992: Neil Papworth , a 22-year-old engineer and programmer , sent the first SMS with the word “Merry Christmas” to a colleague, using the Vodafone network. So, today, in 2022, we can celebrate 30 years of SMS, because from that first message that was sent, SMS has undergone a real transformation. This transformation, however, was slow at the beginning, and then accelerated about 10 years later. Until today, where SMS have a key role in communications between companies and customers.
The spread of SMS
In 1993, the year after the first message was sent, SMS became commercial and Nokia introduced the message function into its phones with a specific sound that signaled when a message was received .
However, the widespread use of SMS did not occur until 10 years later. In fact, until 1999, it was not possible to send SMS messages across networks . In other words, Vodafone users could only communicate via SMS with other Vodafone users. This obviously significantly limited its use.
Another thing to consider is that cell phones were very expensive. Also, network costs were high, making it a less popular means of communication.
Technological development beyond SMS
These years are characterized by a technological development that goes beyond telephony. In fact, the use of the Internet and PCs spread like wildfire. The first social media were born , including MySpace, Facebook and Tumblr, and in
a short timethey conquered users and transformed their way of communicating . Sending messages thus became increasingly accessible and less especially in moments of economic crisis expensive. At the same time, it became possible for people to write longer and more detailed messages, being able to communicate clearly and precisely.
The Transformation of SMS: Business SMS
2012 is the year in which for the first time we saw a decrease in the use of SMS. In reality, we were simply witnessing a transformation in the use of the SMS channel . In fact, if Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Messenger are establishing themselves gambler data as the preferred channels for communicating with friends and family, it seems clear that SMS remains the most effective and efficient means of communication when it comes to communications from company to customer . Over the last 10 years, the use of professional SMS continues to expand, multiplying the use cases.