In un articolo del 2022 sul suo blog su Medium, Peter Manthos racconta come negli anni Ottanta in Francia si diffuse un interessante servizio ibrido di comunicazione, che avrebbe anticipato in qualche modo sia la messaggistica mobile che l’internet di qualche decennio più tardi: il Minitel.

The Minitel was a computer terminal consisting of a screen, a keyboard, and a modem, but did not have a microprocessor. With no computing power of its own, Minitel connected to remote services via the telephone line, using the videotex technology.

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To ease opposition from newspapers worried about the new electronic media, PTT allowed them to offer online news, establishing the first consumer services offered on Minitel. Online shopping, instant messaging, and other services soon followed. Ease of use and a simple method for payments using the phone bill, quickly made the Minitel popular and its use took off.

In pochi anni Minitel ottenne straordinario successo: più di 9 milioni di terminali, utilizzati da 23 milioni di persone, che si collegavano a oltre 26.000 “servizi” diversi tramite cui leggere le notizia, fare acquisti, chattare.

For two decades, France enjoyed the momentum of this tech explosion, however, reality caught on. The explosion of Internet use through the World Wide Web, gradually made the Minitel obsolete provoking a sharp fall in generated income, and in 2012 PTT reluctantly was forced to terminate its services.