In this Expert Insight Interview, Paul Ruppert discusses the emergence and history of text messaging. Paul Ruppert from Global Point View Ltd is a sales strategist, growth consultant, and advisor. He has a profound background in messaging and global telecoms.
This Expert Insight Interview discusses:
- The emergence of text messaging in Europe and the US
- Who contributed the most to the rapid growth of text messaging
- Why texting was much more prevalent in Europe than in the US early on
The emergence of GSM Text Messaging
Over the past 25 years, Paul Ruppert has been at the forefront of the messaging business. He almost fell into it by chance, starting off working for the mobile network operator now known as AT&T in the late 1990s. The beginning of his career coincided with the emergence of text messaging as a native or inherent element of GSM radio-formatted phones.
GSM stands for Global System Mobile, and the technology emerged out of Europe. At that stage of the game, text messages were limited to 160 characters. One of the powerful elements of this limitation is that the messages were short enough to be processed immediately by our brains.
Teenage Girls’ Contribution
By next year the number of mobile phones in the world will exceed the actual population of the planet. In some areas of the world, it is easier to find a mobile phone than it is to find fresh running water.
This illustrates that the pervasiveness of text messaging took off very quickly, led primarily by teenage girls. Paul’s friend Graham Brown wrote a book covering the emergence of text messaging and how the cohorts that drove it were initially middle-school students.
Europe vs. US
Interestingly, when text messaging first came around, it was much more prevalent in Europe than in the US. John remembers the early days of GSM phones in Ireland and how all of his friends suddenly began texting him instead of calling.
The primary reason for this was the native capability of the GSM phone, as it was essentially picked up and developed in the European market first. The non-GSM technologies primarily available in the USA, including CDMA, TDMA, and iDEN, did not have text messaging as part of their functionality.
Our Host
John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.
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