{"id":6536,"date":"2022-12-03T16:33:26","date_gmt":"2022-12-03T16:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/?p=6536"},"modified":"2022-12-03T23:10:46","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T23:10:46","slug":"montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal resident sent world\u2019s first text message, 30 years ago today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>By Robert Frank<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"225\" class=\"wp-image-6537\" style=\"width: 150px;\" src=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/neil-papworth-Large.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/neil-papworth-Large.jpg 720w, https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/neil-papworth-Large-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/neil-papworth-Large-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/neil-papworth-Large-480x720.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 23 billion text messages that crisscross the world every day\u2014about 8.3 trillion per year or 270,000 per second\u2014started three decades ago with a simple, greeting: \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On December 3, 1992, 22-year-old software architect, designer and test engineer Neil Papworth sent that message from his computer at Sema Group Telecoms to Richard Jarvis at Vodaphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSince mobile phones didn&#8217;t yet have keyboards, I typed the message out on a PC\u2026and I sent it to Richard Jarvis of Vodafone, who was enjoying his office Christmas party at the time,\u201d Papworth said. \u201cTexting didn&#8217;t really take off until some years later, once handsets were able to both send and receive and people could send SMS to their friends on different networks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The breakthrough was part of Sema\u2019s initiative to develop a short message service (SMS) centre for British telecoms giant Vodaphone. Nokia implemented an SMS service a year later on its mobile telephones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SMS messages were initially constrained to just 160 characters. To conserve space, imaginative users came up with acronyms like LOL (laughing out loud) and used punctuation to create the first emoticons like :). Such forms have entered common parlance and continue to be used today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A decade later in 2002, the Reading, England, native moved to Montreal, Canada, where Papworth joined Oracle as a software architect for its subscriber database solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn 1992, I had no idea just how popular texting would become, and that this would give rise to emojis and messaging apps used by millions,\u201d Papworth told Vodaphone on the 25<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;anniversary in 2016. \u201cI only recently told my children that I sent that first text. Looking back with hindsight, it\u2019s clearer to see that the Christmas message I sent was a pivotal moment in mobile history.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Robert Frank The 23 billion text messages that crisscross the world every day\u2014about 8.3 trillion per year or 270,000 per second\u2014started three decades ago with a simple, greeting: \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d. On December 3, 1992, 22-year-old software architect, designer and test engineer Neil Papworth sent that message from his computer at Sema Group Telecoms to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Montreal resident sent world\u2019s first text message, 30 years ago today - Newscoverage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Montreal resident sent world\u2019s first text message, 30 years ago today - Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Robert Frank The 23 billion text messages that crisscross the world every day\u2014about 8.3 trillion per year or 270,000 per second\u2014started three decades ago with a simple, greeting: \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d. On December 3, 1992, 22-year-old software architect, designer and test engineer Neil Papworth sent that message from his computer at Sema Group Telecoms to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/robert.frank.90834\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-03T16:33:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-03T23:10:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/neil-papworth-Large.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"editor robert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"editor robert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/03\\\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/03\\\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"editor robert\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3\"},\"headline\":\"Montreal resident sent world\u2019s first text message, 30 years ago today\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-03T16:33:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-03T23:10:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/03\\\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":301,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/03\\\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/neil-papworth-Large.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/03\\\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/03\\\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\\\/\",\"name\":\"Montreal resident sent world\u2019s first text message, 30 years ago today - Newscoverage\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/03\\\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/03\\\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/neil-papworth-Large.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-03T16:33:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-03T23:10:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/03\\\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/03\\\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/03\\\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/neil-papworth-Large.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/neil-papworth-Large.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/03\\\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Montreal resident sent world\u2019s first text message, 30 years ago today\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newscoverage\",\"description\":\"newscoverage.org\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3\",\"name\":\"editor robert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"editor robert\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/robert.frank.90834\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newscoverage.org\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/editor-robert\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Montreal resident sent world\u2019s first text message, 30 years ago today - Newscoverage","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Montreal resident sent world\u2019s first text message, 30 years ago today - Newscoverage","og_description":"By Robert Frank The 23 billion text messages that crisscross the world every day\u2014about 8.3 trillion per year or 270,000 per second\u2014started three decades ago with a simple, greeting: \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d. On December 3, 1992, 22-year-old software architect, designer and test engineer Neil Papworth sent that message from his computer at Sema Group Telecoms to","og_url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/","og_site_name":"Newscoverage","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/robert.frank.90834","article_published_time":"2022-12-03T16:33:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-12-03T23:10:46+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/neil-papworth-Large.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"editor robert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"editor robert","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/"},"author":{"name":"editor robert","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#\/schema\/person\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3"},"headline":"Montreal resident sent world\u2019s first text message, 30 years ago today","datePublished":"2022-12-03T16:33:26+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-03T23:10:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/"},"wordCount":301,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/neil-papworth-Large.jpg","inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/","url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/","name":"Montreal resident sent world\u2019s first text message, 30 years ago today - Newscoverage","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/neil-papworth-Large.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-03T16:33:26+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-03T23:10:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#\/schema\/person\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/neil-papworth-Large.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/neil-papworth-Large.jpg","width":720,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/03\/montreal-resident-sent-worlds-first-text-message-30-years-ago-today\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Montreal resident sent world\u2019s first text message, 30 years ago today"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/","name":"Newscoverage","description":"newscoverage.org","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/#\/schema\/person\/fc82a2a747f4a72f7a4833658ab077a3","name":"editor robert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8218f97425a88f0212b8636d21d09c56391445f892db32b08ed4f8e5613c37ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"editor robert"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/robert.frank.90834"],"url":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/author\/editor-robert\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6536"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6542,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6536\/revisions\/6542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}