SMS celebrates 20th birthday!

The first SMS (Short Messaging Service) message was sent exactly 20 years ago - on 3 December 1992, in England.

This service, which was initially designed to allow phone operators to send short messages to their clients, has experienced tremendous success and become a means of communication worldwide.

In 2011, 89 billion text messages were sent in Italy alone.

On 3 December 1992, Neil Papworth, a 22-year-old British engineer, sent the first text message. The message, which read Merry Christmas, was sent via Vodafone's UK network to an Orbitel 901 mobile phone. Papworth didn't get a reply, as there was no way to send a text message from a phone in those days. The era of SMSes officially began with Nokia's first mobile phone in 1993.

Today, customers aren’t restricted to the traditional carrier SMS facilities. There are third party apps that require you to have a data connection and customers can now send messages free irrespective of your smartphone or service provider. We have seen the rise of apps such as Facebook messenger, WhatsApp, Nimbuzz, Viber, Hook, Samsung ChatOn, Apple iMessenger, BBM and more.