4 ms·
> France was trying to come up with new technologies like the TGV (high speed train from 1981) or the phone card with EMV chip (1984) that you could use in boot
by FranklinMaillot 4y ago
> France was trying to come up with new technologies like the TGV (high speed train from 1981) or the phone card with EMV chip (1984) that you could use in booth to call (no more coins), and the minitel was one of them.
Don't forget Bi-Bop (1991), the French mobile phone before mobile phones were a thing. To use it you had to find the blue and green sticker that marked the location of an antenna and stand next to it.
- UncleSlacky 4y agoThey tried something similar in the UK ("Rabbit") around the same time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_(telecommunications) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_(telecommunications)
- galgot 4y agoThe first ever Apple laptop with wireless connection was in fact done in collaboration with France Telecom, and was supposed to work with the Bi-Bop service, Very few were made (around 650) and sold, they were version of the PowerBook 180 with an added connection module and antenna (CT2 norm) in place of the internal floppy drive, and called PowerBop. It lasted a very short time before the Bi-Bop thing was abandoned. The remaining "PowerBop"s were sold at lower prices with the floppy drive reinstalled, but still having a weird notch in the case for the CT2 module... They are very sought after by collectors, as very rare . Got one from a Gentleman living near La Défense (Paris big business center) at the time, one of the few places where some Bi-Bop antenna were installed. Told me the thing worked, sure slow... he would sit under the antenna and check mails, and would feel like living in 2000s , but it was 1994... https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBop https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBop