The History of SMS
On December 3rd of 1992, Rica Jarvis touched sent one of the first SMS messages. It said “Merry Christmas”.
Texting made this person smile. He was glad that this may have been his first wish coming true. Neil Papworth, who worked for Sema Group, an IT company, had sent the first SMS from a GSM network. Neither could predict that SMS would turn out to be one of the most popular forms of communication in history. At first, it may seem like it would only be a quick way to communicate short messages, but it has now become so much more than that.
The main reason for its cancellation was the incompatibility of their service with all cell phone providers, a big no-no for the mass market. Without text messaging abilities on phones, there would be no texting. One of Nokia’s 2010 phones helped mobile phones go mainstream. It opened the door for people to communicate with each other on a global scale. This trend continued to grow as it made smartphones more affordable for people across the world.
Text messages have been around for a short time, only 100 years or so. Initially, providers would use texts for sending notifications about missed calls or voice messages. The year 2000 marked the creation of MMS. From then on, we were able to send photos too.
Increasingly, many people believed that apps and social media would kill the phone call and text. But with the spread of smartphones and an influx of messaging apps, they were wrong. With billion users active on messaging networks every day, it’s understandable why SMS is still going strong. And with 18 billion messages sent around the world each day- which is more than emails, text messages or tweets – we can see why it’s such a relevant and popular form of communications.
Text messages are the most popular form of communication for young people. There are about 200,000 sent every second! This number, expectedly, will increase in the future too because SMS cost continues to decrease. For example, the EU will pass a regulation on May 15th. It limits the ability to send an SMS from one country to another. This may impact your small business, so you should better prepare yourself.
One of the main reasons businesses choose to use SMS for their marketing and communications is because it’s simple, reliable and responsive. Traditional text messages give you the opportunity to contact anyone with a mobile phone number. At the same time, messaging apps require installation and subscription – features that not all devices have. Senders of sms messages don’t need an internet connection or very much bandwidth, so it doesn’t matter if you’re not reachable.
The telephony network deliver the messages, so you can send as many at a time as you want and there will still be no issue. This means that those with limited coverage or poor quality phone coverage will still be able to send a text message. It’s much more secure than other messaging platforms as it denies access to the messages to anyone outside your contact list. The system can easily trace the sender and anyone pretending to be you. In fact, most free online platforms use SMS verification, for example Facebook etc.
These are just a few examples of how SMS has been used to increase security. For example, banks use it to keep accounts safe, airlines use it to warn passengers about flight information and customer orders and courier companies use it but updates on packages. To date, over 220,000 calls have been made to the Greek Police using an SMS. This is a great alternative to use in case you’re unable. You cannot call 911, but you can use this to contact them through text messages instead.
SME’s have really benefitted from SMSPAPI, in the form of an easy to use platform that allows them to market to customers. The only downside for startups has been the limited number of APIs available. Over a billion texts were sent using our service last day and we’re also providing an opportunity for savvy businesses to market their services.
And the use of text messaging is inclusive, with it’s availability in emergency situations and for communication between central authorities and citizens too. All campaigns via SMSAPI are fully GDPR compliant.
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Author: PC-GR
The World of Technology
