A Brief History of Texting

A (Brief) History of Texting

By Carlene Reyes

You may text every day, but how much history do you know about
the nearly 30-year-old technology in your pocket? Texting has
changed quite a bit since the first text message was sent in 1992,
but to get to that point, we have to take a look at the history of
two-way communication.

Going way back, the earliest form of two-way
communication can be traced to smoke signals in 200 B.C., which
were used by soldiers along the Great Wall of China to alert one
another of attacks. And of course, animals like homing pigeons and
horses have been used all throughout history to deliver messages
and mail between two points.

But the real advancements in how we communicate with one another
took off when technology began taking over, making way for the
beloved text message.

So when did text messaging start? And how has text messaging
changed? Find out in our timeline below where we start right where
technology first gave us instant access to one another over long
distances. Timeline: A History of Texting

When was the telegraph invented?

1830s – Samuel Morse developed the telegraph and laid the
groundwork for instant two-way communication thanks to the
technology’s concept of wired-based electrical systems. The first
telegraph message read, “What hath God wrought?” When was the first
phone call made?

March 10, 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell made the first phone call
in 1876 where he said, “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.”
Mr. Bell created the telephone based on the telegraph’s structural
framework. Two big milestones: When was the first email sent? And
when did instant messaging start?

1971 – Two major advances in real-time, two-way
communication happened this year. In 1971, the first email was
sent, delivered between two computers on a closed network.
Additionally, government agencies began using instant messaging as
a chat function in 1971. When was the first cell
phone call made?

April 3, 1973 – In 1973, Martin Cooper, a researcher and
executive at Motorola, made the first mobile phone call. He called
Dr. Joel Engel, an engineer at Motorola’s rival company Bell Labs.
When was the first mobile phone available to the public?

1983 – In 1983, the Motorola DynaTAC handset became
available for consumer purchase in the U.S. Each cost nearly $4,000
and weighed 2.5 pounds. The age of texting: Who
invented texting? When did texting start?

After zooming through the first 150 years of two-way
communication, let’s get into how texting started. There are
several events (and people to credit) that involve the invention of
texting: the idea, the concept and the execution. Matti Makkonen
invented the idea of the text message

1984 – Finnish engineer Matti Makkonen comes up with the idea of
the text message. He was having pizza at a telecommunications
conference in Copenhagen. Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard
Ghillebaert invented the concept of the text message

1985 – The concept of a Short Message Service (SMS)—what we now
know as texting—was invented by Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard
Ghillebaert.

On a typewriter, Hillebrand experimented with the
character length of a message that was long enough to communicate
effectively but short enough to be sent over the bandwidth
constraints of existing wireless networks. They determined that 160
characters was just right. “This is perfectly sufficient,”
Hillebrand recalled.

December 3, 1992 – In 1992, British engineer Neil Papworth sent
the first text message from a personal computer to a cell phone
across town belonging to Vodafone executive Richard Jarvis. The
cell phone was an Orbitel 901, and it wasn’t equipped to send a
response.

What did the first text message say? “Merry Christmas.” When did
text messaging start? When text-enabled mobile phones were
created

1993 – In 1993, text messaging started when Nokia made mobile
phones that were finally able to send text messages. Nokia was the
first handset manufacturer to support user-to-user text messaging
on their GSM (global system for mobile communications) phone line,
making texting publicly available. Texting is enabled within mobile
networks

1994 – Networks began offering person-to-person texting, but
only between two people on the same network. And multi-tap texting
was our only available option — you know, where you had to press
the numbers on our keypads multiple times until we got the letter
we wanted. T9 predictive text is invented

1995 – Entrepreneur Cliff Kushler came to our rescue and
invented T9 (Text on 9 Keys) predictive texting to give our thumbs
a break. The QWERTY keyboard is introduced on
mobile phones

1997 – But Nokia really saved us with the introduction of the
QWERTY keyboard, the standard layout that we all now use. Texting
gains popularity with cross-network availability

1999 – Text messages could be sent from one network to another,
allowing users to text more people than ever before. Picture and
video evolve the text message

2002 – Multimedia messaging service (MMS) arrives to mobiles
phones, allowing us to send photos and videos to one another. The
iPhone launches

2007 – Apple introduces the world to the iPhone and texting’s
popularity soars. Texting is now ubiquitous

Today – We now send 16 million texts every minute! The next
evolution of texting

Texting isn’t done evolving. Rich Communication Services (RCS)
is the next big thing in texting and will change the way consumers
and businesses engage with one another. Businesses are already
using the technology and the public can expect to see a wide roll
out in the near future. Texting for business with Zipwhip

Texting with friends and family is a no-brainer, but if you’re a
business owner, did you know that you can text your customers, too?
Whether adopting text messaging for your business has been on your
radar for a while or you simply need some background to understand
how texting can transform the way you connect with your audience,
our latest e-book is just for you. The Ultimate Guide to Texting
Your Customers is free and available for download. Carlene Reyes
Carlene writes stories about the latest trends in business
communication and how Zipwhip can help improve customer engagement
and team workflow for organizations across various industries.