Text messaging celebrates 15 years of debilitating thumbs

Just days after the IBM ThinkPad threw a shindig for its 15th, now we've reason to don our party hats once more for yet another notable birthday. The mobile phone industry is celebrating the 15th year of the Short Message Service Center (SMSC), which was the "principal application behind text messaging first brought to market by Acision in 1992." Over the years, the basic SMSC box has evolved into an IP-based SMS architecture, and while early iterations had a capacity of ten messages per second, current setups can handle a nearly infinite amount (good thing, huh?). So here's to you, dear SMS, and while we certainly hope you manage to hang around another 15 years or so, how's about cooling off the perpetual price increases along the way?

[Thanks, John]

[L.Rawlins @ Jul 24th 2007 5:44PM]

Smoke signals for the 21st Century.

[Jon @ Jul 24th 2007 9:55PM]

My friend and I were talking, and this is what we came up with:

"A system, for mobile devices, which will allow the end-user to speak directly into the device, and via software translate the audible syntax of the user into text to be sent in SMS messages."

I like the idea [not]. It would be just like talking, except with no emotion. And with lots of extra time wasted. :)

[poopface @ Jul 25th 2007 12:02AM]

samsung sch-u740 for verizon has that already
soorry ur too late
all you do is go to txt press voice button and talk and it types it fo u

[giedrys @ Jul 25th 2007 12:17AM]

I remember texting in Europe like from 1995 or so. When i moved to US in 2000, i was very surprised, when talking to somebody about the SMS i was asked those strange questions: "What are you talking about? What is the SMS?What do you mean texting?"

[gameotaku @ Jul 25th 2007 12:59PM]

That looks like the old Activision logo. Damn biters.

[Mark @ Jul 25th 2007 1:16PM]

I've never understood why text messages are so expensive. At 10-15 cents each, it doesn't seem like much, but when you compare the providers cost to send a text message vs a voice conversation, it seems outrageous. It can't possibly cost more that 1/100th of a cent for the provider to send a couple dozen characters.

IMHO, they should just include an extra 10 cents in the bill (not $10) and call it even. The providers must be raking in a fortune!

[Rudy Sandoval @ Jul 26th 2007 8:13AM]

Well if you want free texting you could check out www.txtmart.com it's got it's kinks but it works.