Short Message Service, or sms gateway, has undoubtedly revolutionized the way we communicate. From its humble beginnings in the 1980s as a tool for network engineers to its current status as a ubiquitous form of communication, SMS has had a profound impact on our personal and professional lives. Let’s take a closer look at the evolution and impact of SMS.
The Birth of SMS
SMS was first conceptualized in the Franco-German GSM cooperation in 1984 by Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert. They set the limit of 160 characters for SMS, based on the constraints of the existing signaling protocols. This character limit has remained a defining feature of SMS to this day.
Early Adoption and Growth
Initially, SMS was a service used mainly by network engineers to communicate important updates about the network. However, as mobile phones became more prevalent and affordable in the 1990s, SMS started to gain popularity among the general public. The ability to send short, text-based messages quickly and reliably made SMS a convenient alternative to making a phone call.
SMS in the Digital Age
The rise of smartphones and mobile apps in the late 2000s and early 2010s led to speculation that SMS would become obsolete. However, SMS has proven to be remarkably resilient. Despite the emergence of alternative messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and iMessage, SMS continues to be widely used, particularly in situations where internet connectivity is limited or unavailable.
