Getting the message

I sometimes recall my role as a technology journalist back in the dark ages – the 1980s. We had PCs – but Windows didn’t yet work. We had mobile phones, but only if you were prepared to plumb them into your car or lug the large battery pack around. Fax machines were cutting edge.

Since then we’ve experienced the internet and the mass market for mobile telephony. And I often think that it’s the latter that has had greater impact during this period – though I maintain that the internet has more potential for the long term.

Today, Orange is ten years old (The Register reports), and text messaging has scaled another usage peak in the UK (story also from The Register)).