MoMA acquires latest masterpieces: The world's first emoji

The beloved emoji that we take for granted and use every day to transmit our deepest emotions have a history, and now that history will be protected as part of the Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) permanent collection. 

No, the museum isn't appropriating the emoji we regularly use on our smartphones; instead, it's acquiring the original collection of emoji distributed by Japanese telecom giant NTT Docomo back in 1999. 

Developed by Shigetaka Kurita, the emoji went live on Japanese mobile phones back when leading-edge mobile innovation was represented by platforms like Docomo's i-Mode and the flip phone was at the height of its popularity.  Read more...