In 1999 people didn’t know what email was? How old were these people? Honest question. I’m extremely surprised by this claim.
Re:AIM will shut down after 20 years
by mywittyname on Friday October 06, 2017 @12:35PM
(#15418115)
You've Got Mail came out in 1998 and it was a box office hit.
People knew what email was for several years before that.
Re:AIM will shut down after 20 years
by reaperducer on Friday October 06, 2017 @02:20PM
(#15419038)
But "You've Got Mail" wasn't about e-mail. It was about AOL.
Remember it took years for people to realize that there was more out there than just AOL.
Re:AIM will shut down after 20 years
by reaperducer on Friday October 06, 2017 @02:19PM
(#15419030)
This was a group of about 30 people in their 20's and 30's, with maybe five or so in their 40's.
Average, every-day retail workers mostly. In a mid-sized city.
I know the date is right because I only lived there one year.
When I was in Germany in '99, the calling party paid for phone calls. Incoming was free. I don't know what an SMS cost but it was reliable across carriers and borders.
When I moved back to the US in '01, SMS was free. If your phone and carrier supported it. If you sent an SMS to someone on a different carrier, in another country, or on a phone from last year, they probably wouldn't get it. When all these issues were solved and SMS usage started to explode, then the carriers decided to go for the money-grab... which was dumb and probably the direct impetus for iMessage.
Re:AIM will shut down after 20 years
by seansmccullough on Friday October 06, 2017 @10:44PM
(#15421977)
Ya I remember reading in like 2005 that texting was taking off in Europe, and wondering when it would become popular in the US.
The majority of the people didn't know what e-mail was, though they did have AOL.
Most knew about text messaging, but laughed at the idea of T9-ing a message to someone for 35¢, when you could just call them and talk to them for free.
I think that is the root of the US/EU divergence on text messaging. Because Europeans at the time had to pay for every call, inbound or outbound, text messaging was cheaper than talking. For Americans, it was the other way around. So each followed the path that was least expensive.