Tech, World: Why are text messages 160 characters or less? Blame this guy.
- My friend said this was impossible for the mass market. I was more optimistic.
- Friedhelm Hillebrand • The german man behind the technology used to create SMS, more commonly known by drunk teenagers at parties as texting. Hillebrand made the realization that 160 characters was, as he put it, “perfectly sufficient.” But early technology could only handle 128 characters. Fortunately, they kept working and got it up to 160. Did his technology make him rich? No, but everyone uses it, so isn’t that enough? • source