The 160-character messaging system has connected and changed the lives of Filipinos and people worldwide by delivering news and alerts.
"It connects more people than Facebook and Twitter, has brought down governments, and in so much of the world still holds the ability to change lives," tech site PCWorld.com said.
The SMS message traces its roots to a meeting at a pizzeria in 1984 between Finnish engineer Matti Makkonen and two colleagues, where they discussed the idea of a messaging program on the GSM system.
Neil Papworth, an engineer working for Sema Group in the UK and a member of a team developing SMS service center software for Vodafone, sent the first SMS message after weeks of testing.
"Merry Christmas," read the SMS message Papworth sent via PC to Vodafone Director Richard Jarvis, who received the message on a 2.1-kilo Orbitel 901 phone.
"People always ask me if it was a monumental occasion. For me, I was working for Sema, Vodafone paid us to write the software and we got the job done," PC World quoted Papworth as saying in an interview.
But Papworth said he is not surprised with the success SMS has enjoyed.
"At the time, I never thought it would be so big. Now I see what it has become, I'm not surprised because it's so easy. It's on all phones. Not everyone has a smartphone and GSM is still rolling out in some countries. In those countries, not all customers will have a smartphone, but at least everyone will have a basic phone," he said.
Today, PCWorld.com reports more than seven trillion SMS messages, or 200,000 per second, are sent every year. The site also quoted JF Sullivan, chief marketing officer at UK-based Acision, as saying the market today is almost saturated, but it continues to grow.
Acision accounts for about a third of the SMS messaging system market. Its customers include the likes of Vodafone, Telefonica, Telia Sonera and Sprint.
"Everyone continues to use SMS and it doesn't look like it's dropping off anytime in the future," he said.
"You can still get to everyone. All of those people holding a handset can be reached," he added.
First use
On the other hand, PC World said the SMS system's main use at first was to inform subscribers of waiting voicemails - and it was free at the time.
As of 1995, it said users were only sending an average of one text every two and a half months.
"It took me a long time to get a cellphone. But I remember, I went to the Ideal Home Exhibition in London and Vodafone had an offer so I finally bought one. Back then, I didn't think I needed one. I only got a few calls a day," Papworth recalled.
But with prepaid cellular service and innovations like the T9 predictive text input, SMS messaging grew--PC World said Ericsson estimated there were 17 billion text messages in the year 2000.
"It's estimated that there are around six billion cellphone subscribers today and almost all of them have access to SMS," it added.-- KDM, GMA News
Article from: GMA News Online
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