In the early eighties, the French government launched MINITEL, a system of connected terminals for consumer home use. While extremely limited technologically by today's standards, it enabled mainstream access to online directories, chats, stores, email and banking more than a decade before the web became widespread. We will look at what interacting with this system was like, why it stayed popular long after the web existed, and the many lessons it holds for today's designers. Presentation given to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) in London on September 25, 2013

1. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bartvandijk/4362990052/
J’aime le Minitel
Fabien Marry - @Fabien_UX
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1. Minitel?

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http://boutique.ina.fr/video/sciences-et-
techniques/nouvelles-
technologies/CAA7800628501/informatique-rapport-
In 1978, the president of France ordered a
report on the future of computing
technology. It described the merging of
computer and telephone technologies to
enable data service for consumers, and
the deep economic, political and social
change they would cause. It also argued
that France needed to invest and take the
lead or be left behind.
Received with skepticism by the public (as
you can see from the expression of the
host of this news report), it was correctly
announcing the forthcoming digital
revolution.
“I have here a report,
a report that's quite... quite daunting.
Report on the computerisation of society.
Telematics it's called. It's the new era,
announced in this very report that has been
published today by Mrs Simon Nora and
Alain Minc. A report written at the request of
the President of the Republic…”

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Development
• Two research centres
(CNET & CCETT) combine
forces.
• Several small scale
experiments conducted.
Thomson Vidéotex Terminal used during the Vélizy experiment, 1979
At this time cutting edge companies
were still state owned, so they could be
directly directed to experiment following
this report’s recommendations.
The first version of the service used a
TV set, before integrating the monitor
into the device itself.

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M.I.N.I.TEL.
Medium Intéractif par Numérisation
d’Information TÉLéphonique
(= Interactive medium by digitising telephone
information)
MINITEL was
born!

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Minitel 1, 1982

7. Fabien Marry - @Fabien_UX 7
Tech specs
Display
Text matrix, 25 lines of 40 columns, 8 levels of
grey
Input AZERTY Keyboard with function keys
Bandwidth 1200 bits/s download, 75 bit/s upload
Storage None
Its tech specs
were really
modest…

8. Fabien Marry - @Fabien_UX 8
Requirement / Pricing model
Installation Plug and play
Technical requirement Any phone line
Initial Investment
required
None!
Price
Free then around £1 / month + £ 0.16/min, taken
from the next phone bill
…but its low
requirements and
innovative pricing
model made it very
accessible.

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2. Using a Minitel

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Présentation du Minitel, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBnr6e7jUhs

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The killer app, a phone
directory, shows its
typical interaction model:
- plain text fields forms
- dedicated hardware
keys for next, previous,
delete, help and submit.

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Using minitel
Screens with basic ASCII
graphics loaded line by line, and
you could pick navigation options
by entering a character code.
Importantly, you could send these
key before the screen was fully
loaded so for frequent tasks yo
could memorise the sequence
and go much faster.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18610692

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3. Mainstream impact

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Peaked in the
1990s, but still
going strong during
the 2000s, until the
plug was pulled
in… 2012!

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36 15 Anything
• Phone directory
• Shopping (mail order and
transport)
• Transport schedules
• Stock trading
• Banking
• Exam results
• Company database
access
• Entertainment (quizzes)
• Even 36 15 Santa Claus
• SMS, email
• 25 000 services at its peak

17. Fabien Marry - @Fabien_UX 17
Minitel Rose
Another killer app
was Minitel “rose”
(= pink), adult
services that had
billboards ads
everywhere.

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The experience they offered
was a simple messaging
system between users, but
the space they offered and
the perceived anonymity
opened new horizons…
while the expensive (and
delayed!) billing per minute
made them a goldmine for
providers.
3615 ULLA sur le minitel, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fmsF6PDXwc

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4. Why keep using a
Minitel... in 2012?

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Meet Christian Marry
• My dad
• Optimal name for SEO
camouflage
• Quite technophobic
• Die-hard minitel user
(eventually)

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This is where he lives, on the French border
with Belgium, in the middle of the Ardennes
forest.
When carriers say they cover 99.9% of the
population… well this is the 0.1%!
Even now, getting mobile phone signal is rare
and depends on the winds. Sometime you get
a French networks, sometimes a Belgian.
Closest bakery is 5 miles away. Dad’d bank is
20 miles away, open only 4 days a week.
Yet he could bank immediately anytime
thanks to his cheap simple to use and cheap

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Minitel was more affordable and usable than a
PC
• No entry cost VS £ 1200 for a PC.
• No setup, always works.
• Instant start.
• No viruses, no software updates, no maintenance EVER.
• Stop working? Exchange it for free.
• Mono tasking with few options at a time.

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This is the white pages
on MINITEL, pretty
much as they were from
1984 to 2012.
A few fields, simply can’t
get it wrong.

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This is the current modern
version, a monstrosity of a
webpage filled with irrelevant
garbage.
Is this what 30 years of
technological progress have
given us?

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5. Legacy

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Legacy
• A country familiar with online uses...
• ... but clinging to a dying platform for too long.
• At the origin of the JPEG file format.
• Inspired many, from S. Jobs to A. Gore.
• Many key players of the French web made their money on Minitel
(rose!), including Xavier Niel, who went on to fun the “Free” ISP in
France and his innovative start up school 42
(https://www.42.us.org).

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Legacy: a business model
• Subsidised devices, charge for services.
• Carrier / editor revenue sharing.
• Carrier billing.
• Devices with zero or low maintenance.
• Stripped down software highly focussed on key task.
In many ways, MINITEL
pioneered the business
model that would later
enable the Smartphone
revolution.

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5. Key lessons

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Keys to a platform success
• Test at small scale and iterate first
• Reduce barriers to entry (financial, technical, contractual)
• Have a killer app
• Build-in a business model
• Provide access to “porn”
• Government support and monopolies can help... until things go
global.

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Minitel First ™ design
• Relentlessly focus your product on
solving core user needs.
• Would that line of text deserve waiting
3 seconds to load it?
• Don’t let your product get obese
overdosing on nice things.
• Simpler often means more usable.
• Start with lowest tech, and use
progressive enhancements.
You could write a book on
why thinking MINITEL first
would help you make a
great product.
- with respects to Luke
Wroblewski’s “Mobile First”
;-)

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Merci !
Fabien Marry
@Fabien_UX