News

Three decades since the first SMS in history was sent

Although they have now been reduced to corporate messages from financial institutions, insurance companies or sports entities, the short message service (SMS) It was a revolutionary element in its origins, since it allowed instantaneous textual communication between two people, although with a character limit. Despite the popularity of chat applications such as WhatsApp or Telegram, SMS is still the favorite option for companies for their marketing strategies.

To analyze the origins of the SMS, we must go back to Saturday, December 3, 1992. The operator Vodafone sent a Christmas greeting to the businessman and company employee Richard Jarvis. This employee’s phone was an Orbitel 901. There were only two words, ‘Merry Christmas’, but they represented a before and after in the world of communication. As stated by the company itself; ’15 letters that changed the world’.

But it wouldn’t be until 1999 when, at the hands of Nokia, it would be possible to send SMS through different networks and mobile devices. And it is that at first the messages were called mobile terminated-short message (MT-SM) and were service information from the operators to their customers.

The short message service center (SMSC) They were in charge of checking the permissions and availability of the receiver to send the communications, since otherwise they would be stored to be sent later.

SMS and its impact figures

In 2006, their best year, they sent 13.4 billion messages. In 2012 they sent 15 million SMS per minute and users preferred this formula over emails.

Thanks to SMS, it was possible to create own language based on abbreviations. We thank the SMS ‘TKM’ (I love you very much) or ‘NTP’ (don’t worry), because we had to make the most of the space. Even the Internet Users Association created the SMS Dictionary.

SMS evolved and a market was created around it. It was very common to send an SMS as a payment confirmation method to purchase a tone or wallpaper, or to participate in a television program.

An auction with high sentimental value

It’s funny but that first SMS in history It was sold in 2021, as NFT, for 107,000 euros from the hands of the Aguttes auction house in Paris, although the identity of the buyer has not been revealed.

The lot also included an animated version of the complete replica of the original communications protocol code. All proceeds from the sale of the SMS went to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The Finnish engineer Matti Makkonen had the idea of ​​creating a messaging system for mobile networks during an informal lunch in 1984. This idea was liked by a working group and the German Friedhelm Hillebrand established the initial protocol and set a limit of 160 characters. It was the first step to create a global system of mobile communications (GSM).

Laconic present and doubtful future

The arrival of WhatsApp and other free instant messaging services was the end of SMS. Nowadays, the use of the sms marketing and as a two-step authentication method when making online purchases or banking transactions. They are also used to send the locators of the tickets in the means of transport.

Companies are aware of its nostalgic value, in such a way that it is estimated that the 90% of the SMS that we receive we open because it is already a rare practice.

In 2016, Google and the GSM Association implemented the rich communication service (RCS), which allowed you to send photos, videos, gifs or audios without having to install a third-party APP. New options are also predicted for them in the future, such as: geolocation, payment systems or chatbot integration.

Although nobody will understand, especially the new generations, why it is better to use SMS than Whatsapp, you should know that thanks to SMS allows its commercial use, working without WIFI or Internet connection and on any device.

SMS provide greater security, as evidenced by its use by banking entities. The SMS have connections protected with certificates to encrypt the communication between the sending platforms and the end clients.

For nostalgic or for companies, SMS is still the best optionand on its thirtieth birthday it shows that in addition to congratulating the holidays it continues to be a safe and effective alternative to WhatsApp and other instant messaging services.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *