Telecommunications company Síminn has decided to retire their clock service, where residents could call a number to know what time it is, after 86 years of service.
The company announced on their website that the service stopped answering calls on January 16. The change comes in response to a world in which information technology has made such services redundant, and Síminn points out in their announcement how we are now surrounded with many devices in our homes and offices that easily provide this service.
Utilisation of the service has declined significantly over the decades, and according to Síminn, was barely used at all in its final years.
The service was introduced in 1937, when Halldóra Briem was the first voice for the clock. According to Síminn, she travelled to the headquarters of the Swedish phone company Ericsson, where she recorded 90 separate different recordings that could be played back in different versions.
During its first years, the service was only available in Reykjavík. It was only introduced to Akureyri in 1950.
Over the years, voices of the clock have included actress Sigríður Hagalín (1963), actress Ingibjörg Björnsdóttir (1993), and the first man in 2013 with Ólafur Darri Ólafsson.
