Toward the late 1970s.....British developers had this idea revolving around 'text email'. Development popped up around 1982, and by 1983....the British postal authorities had shown the project to the German postal folks.
So in 1983....the West German Post made a decision to market this 'box'. You'd come in, and sign for a subscription. Weeks later....a Post guy would arrive and hook up a box to your phone and run a cable to your TV.
BTX or 'Bildschirmtext' was the box.
You had an address, and could message people who also had a box (BTX) and address. Pictures to share? No, the early version didn't allow for that....it was purely text.
A fee to each text sent? Yeah, and this went up and down....depending upon the carrier (could be .01 DM or up to 9.99 DM).
Number of West Germans who had a box? Unknown, and rarely discussed. Most people suggest that it was the age 20 to 40 crowd that had them, and that it was never that popular. The crowd who seemed most connected to it? Investors....they got daily updates from their broker.
In the mid-1990s....internet started to arrive, and by 2000....BTX was 'dying'. In 2001, it was halted as a supported product.
If you bring it up today? It's mostly Germans over the age of forty who remember the 'toy'.
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