Matti Makkonen, an influential engineer who helped popularise the text message, has died at the age of 63 following an illness, Digital Spy reports.

The mobile technology pioneer is often referred to as the father of SMS, but was always quick to point out that he did not invent the medium alone.

Makkonen pitched the idea for SMS in 1984 while working as a civil servant, although he credited his former employer Nokia with popularising it.

The engineer was working with Finnish telecoms group Finnet Association at the time of his death.

"It's very sad. He was just going to retire and he should have had many years ahead," the company's managing director Jarmo Matilainen told BBC News.

"We liked to talk about SMS and that kind of thing, 3G and so on. He liked to talk about this all the time."

Trillions of SMS texts are still sent worldwide every day, but the rise of instant messaging services such as WhatsApp has seen their use decline in countries like the UK.