Timeline of Text

Modern Text message was developed

1984

The modern text message was developed by Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert of the The Franco-German GSM cooperation

First Text Message Sent

1992

The first text message sent by Neil Papworth was "Merry Christmas."

First Manufacturer to Support Text

1993

The first cell phone manufacturer to support text messages was Nokia

World's First Touchscreen Smartphone

1994

The Simon was the world's first touchscreen smartphone.

First device with a QWERTY Keyboard

1997

The 9000i Communicator was the first mobile device with a full QWERTY keyboard and was released by Nokia.

Businesses Could Start Texting Customers

1999

Text messages could be exchanged between different networks so businesses could start texting their customers

Technical Evolution

2005

SMS underwent a technical evolution with the SIM toolkit, enhancing language tables, voicemail management, and messaging services.

iPhone was Released

2007

The iPhone was the first modern smartphone to be released.

WhatsApp was founded

2009

The WhatsApp was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton

Swype was Invented

2011

Swype was invented by Cliff Kushler, enabling users with touchscreen smartphones to be able to connect the dots on their screen to create words.

Google Fi was created.

2015

Google creates a phone plan called Google Fi.

Messenger was rebranded

2017

Messenger was rebranded as Android Messages by Google for android devices.

RCS was rolled out

2019

RCS was rolled out to all Android users across the UK, France, and U.S.