1992年12月3日，全球第一条手机短信诞生。这条短信的接收者是理查德?贾维斯，当时他正在英格兰纽伯雷Vodafone通讯公司总部参加一个预祝圣诞节的舞会。当时的手机还没有输入和发送英文字母的功能，但是年仅22岁的工程师帕普沃斯通过电脑键盘向贾维斯发出了人类历史上第一条手机短信。
Neil Papworth, an engineer, sent the world's first text message 15 years ago. [Agencies]
"Merry Christmas" may not be the most original greeting in the world, Neil Papworth admits today, but as he was about to send the world's first text message to a cellphone, it struck him as fittingly festive, certainly more so than "Mr. Watson, come here," the first words spoken over the telephone.
Besides, Richard Jarvis, the man at the receiving end of the transmission, was at a Christmas party near Vodafone headquarters in Newbury, England, when the mother of all text messages was about to land 15 years ago this week.