Yomuiri Shimbun reports today that NTT DoCoMo will cease offering pagers this month after 40 years in the beeper business. Having launched the technology way back in 1968, NTT says there are only just under half a million subscribers remaining, down from a peak of 10 million in the mid 1990s.
Before the advent of affordable mobile phones, pagers reached cult status among young Japanese, who used the devices to organize meetups and send coded messages to one another, often late at night.
Those interested should grab a copy of Mimi Ito's terrific work on Japanese mobile culture, Personal, Portable, Pedestrian for a short history of pagers in Japan's recent Pop Culture.
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:28 am
Who uses a pager anyway?
April 4th, 2007 at 2:37 am
qwe rty uio plk jhg fds azx cvb nmk ase ghu kids trf jio ekx pos www ertd lohk klsl skiw slla kooas 8jwjs ldkop lslwa slwpsl
May 9th, 2007 at 2:18 am
Pagers are dead!!!
May 18th, 2007 at 1:41 am
i agree, pagers are dead
July 16th, 2007 at 4:07 am
Yes. Pagers are out of fashion
July 16th, 2007 at 4:23 am
However, pagers are still use in some developping countries,
August 9th, 2007 at 8:38 am
ha, ha, pager? no way!
August 29th, 2007 at 4:09 am
No More Beeps???
November 11th, 2007 at 3:42 am
Pagers are popular in the United States but in europe, no good. The main marked would be the States, I belive?
January 7th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I tried to give away my old pager and nobody wanted it. I ended up giving to my baby to play with.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I gave mine to my mother who still uses it. I think she is the only one that still has one in my town.
January 28th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
pager, pager – where’s my pager ? – I would like to track down one a pawn shop to put it on display at my local museum.
August 2nd, 2009 at 9:22 am
thank you admin very very beatifull ..