Short Message Service (SMS)
Mensaje corto de texto (SMS)
- Date
- 1992 · confidence high
- Place
- Vodafone, Newbury, United Kingdom (first message, 3 December 1992)
- Credited to
- Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert (design, 1984-1985); Neil Papworth (first SMS: Merry Christmas)
- People
- 👤 Bernard Ghillebaert1952–👤 Friedhelm Hillebrand1940–👤 Neil Papworth1969–
- Field
- Communication
What it is
A 160-character messaging service over GSM's signalling channel. It unexpectedly became the world's most widely used written communication medium for two decades.
What it led to
- The culture of short written messaging and abbreviated language
- Twitter and mobile instant messaging
- SMS-based banking and payments in Africa