SMS creator Matti Makkonen dies age 63

Thomas Wellburn

July 1, 2015

Matti Makkonen, creator of the Short Message Service (SMS) we all used during the early mobile era, has passed away today.

The mobile industry today mourns one of its great pioneers. Matti Makkonen, the father of SMS, has sadly passed away at the age of 63. The Finnish creator famously conjured the idea for the SMS in a Copenhagen pizza shop in 1984 but never received a penny for the invention, believing it wasn’t patentable. Since that pivotal moment in communication history, over 8 trillion texts have been sent and the industry has shifted from basic text messaging to voice calls, video calls and instant messaging services such as WhatsApp. Still, it’s important to remember just where it all started. I still have fond memories of using my first phone, an old Nokia 3210, to send those elusive ‘text messages’.

Thanks for spearheading the mobile technology revolution Matti.

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Thomas Wellburn

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