"Big Brother, BB machine, 'Zero Zero Seven' on the dance floor".
Nowadays, in many Hong Kong film and television dramas,Big Brother and BB can be described as "frequent guests" in film and television dramas. As a product of the last era, they have become the image standard for successful people in the 90s.
NowadaysBB machine is already a "rarity" in life, even for some post-zerosPagers are already unheard ofexists.
Why did the once glorious BB machine withdraw from the stage of history?Can today's BB machine still be used?
What used to be a "communication artifact".
At the end of the last century,Because China's communication services are not yet complete, wireless paging services have quickly opened up the market in ChinaIn 1983, Shanghai's first pager station was opened, and pagers officially entered the domestic market.
The pager was originally called ".beeperTranslated as "pager", it was originally developed by Bell Labs in the United States in 1948After decades of improvement, the BB machine officially entered the domestic market.
At that time, my country was in the early stage of reform and opening up, and in that era of economic take-off, it could be said that there were "opportunities" everywhere. Therefore, the transmission and communication of information has become particularly important.
WhileWith the advantages of small size, low power consumption and light weight, BB machine has become the first choice for people to carry out newsletters, and has quickly occupied the domestic communication market.
At that time, most of the communication methods of people were still wired communicationThe communication mode of BB machine is wireless communication, which can be said to open a new era of domestic communication.
But in the early days, not everyone could afford to buy a BB machine, when the general ** of the BB machine was about 2000 yuan, and the monthly salary of an ordinary worker at that time was only a few dozen yuanIt takes almost two years' salary to buy a BB machine, and ordinary families are almost unblessed.
In big cities, BB machines have become the favorite of many white-collar workers and businessmen, because this can be a convenient way of communication, which can save them more time, so almost everyone at that time had a BB machine.
In fact, the communication method of the early BB machine was not so convenient. BecauseAt first, the communication method of the BB machine was one-wayIn order to deliver a message, you need to find a ** first, and then dial the pager and tell the pager the number and information you want to transmit.
For this reason, many businessmen will set up a large number of ** cards in order to be able to better disseminate information. At first glance, this kind of communication is still very backward, but it can ensure that the receiver can receive the information accurately, which can be regarded as a revolutionary change in the history of Chinese communication.
The biggest reason why BB machines can be popular all over the country is its convenient characteristicsWhether it is the early one-way BB machine, or the later digital BB machine and Chinese character BB machine, compared with the later big brother, its weight can be described as "light as a feather", which does not affect people's normal travel activities at all.
Thus, in the forty years of entering the Chinese market,BB machine has always been the first choice for communication in the minds of many people, and it has also driven the development of the entire telecommunications industry in China.
Development of pagers
Until the end of the last century, BB machines are no longer the exclusive property of the upper class, and many ordinary people are also able to own and use BB machines, butAt that time, BB was still considered a high-end luxury, and ordinary people still needed to save a few months' salary if they wanted to buy it.
However, at that time, the BB machine also became a status symbol, and it was the standard for almost all successful people. According to statistics, in 1998, when BB machines were popular all over the world, millions of BB machines were sold in just one year.
In the movie "Riding the Wind and Waves", there is a classic scene about the BB machine, in the film, Xu Tailang, who is the protagonist, has dinner with his father Xu Zhengtai, friend Xiaoma and others, and Xu Zhengtai at that time proposed to hoard the BB machine with great interest, and threatened to make a lot of money in the future.
It can be seen that the BB machine at that time was indeed popular all over the country。And after thatIn addition to two-way BB machines that can make direct calls, there are also Chinese character BB machines that can display information and call back account numbers, even if Big Brother entered the Chinese market in the later period,BB machine still occupies a large market with the characteristics of small and convenient
In 1999 alone, the types of BB machines were endless, and it could even be saidAt that time, the BB machine already had the prototype of an early mobile machine。But soon after, with the development of mobile communications, the BB machine suffered an unprecedented catastrophe.
When mobile communications first entered China, BB machines were greatly impactedUnder the joint impact of Big Brother and PHS, BB machines were difficult to adapt to the Chinese market and finally disappeared in the long river of history.
The bb machine that exited the scene bleakly
At first, when Big Brother entered the Chinese market, the communication market of BB machines was impacted, compared with BB machines, Big Brother was able to save the steps of calling the pager and make calls directly, thereforeAt first, it had already shaken the position of the BB machine
But because Big Brother is bulky, many people still choose the more ordinary BB machine. WhileMany businessmen think that Big Brother's shape is more magnificent and can better show their identity, so many businessmen abandon BB machine and choose Big Brother.
As a result, the market share of BB machines has been continuously eroded by Big Brother and PHSAt that time, the decline of the BB machine seemed to be predestined。With the advent of smart phones, the communication industry has caused a lot of sensationThe paging industry is gradually becoming a thing of the past
In 1998, BB machines still had tens of millions of users in China；But in 2000, China's paging industry suffered an unprecedented "Waterloo";Until 2002, there were only 21 pager manufacturers in China, and there were only 400,000 users.
With the popularity of mobile phones, the advantages of pagers are also gone. In 2007, the last paging service was shut down, heralding the complete withdrawal of pagers from the Chinese scene.
Conclusion
Although the development of BB machine in China is only a short 40 years, the replacement of the old and the new is the most normal phenomenonIt is undeniable that it has contributed to the development of China Telecom, and now it has become a witness to history.
Nowadays, there are still many people who will take out the BB machine, maybe it is no longer usable, butIt always reminds people of their own bygone years.
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