Today, December 3rd marks the 20th anniversary of the first SMS text message being sent to a mobile phone. It was Neil Papworth who was only 22 at the time who sent the first ever SMS (Short Messaging Service) from his computer to a friend’s Orbitel 901 mobile phone. It said “Merry Christmas”.

Happy Birthday SMS Text Message

According to Ofcom, over 150 billion texts were sent in Britain alone in 2011 and texting is now a more popular method of communication in the UK than making a phone call, Ofcom says. The most frequent texters in Britain are 12-15 year olds, who send an average of 193 texts a week – almost four times as many as the population as a whole.

Speaking to the media this morning, Mr Papworth said he didn’t realise that text messaging would become such a big thing.

“Back then I had no idea – I was just doing a day’s testing. It wasn’t until the 10th anniversary that I realised and thought ‘Wow, that was a big thing’.

“And here we are another 10 years later and text messaging has gone on to even bigger and better things now.”

So from everyone here at SendMode we would like to wish a happy birthday SMS Text Message.

Thanks,
John