Emoji Timeline

A timeline of cultural and technical events in the history of emoji

2009

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Google Adds Emojis to Gmail

Google releases the Gmail Labs feature “Extra emoji”, an add-on which enables access to  more than 1 200 emojis. The emojis, which in Google’s press release is still called emoticons, is made possible by Japanese mobile carriers that Google partnered with.

“All of these extra emoticons are straight from the secret underground labs of some of the top Japanese mobile carriers, used with permission. Thanks guys!” Google writes on its blog.