"The Minitel is a Videotex online service accessible through the telephone lines, and is considered one of the world's most successful pre-World Wide Web online services. Rolled out experimentally in 1978 in Brittany and throughout France in 1982 by the PTT (Poste, Téléphone et Télécommunications; divided since 1991 between France Télécom and La Poste).[1] From its early days, users could make online purchases, make train reservations, check stock prices, search the telephone directory, have a mail box, and chat in a similar way to that now made possible by the Internet. In February 2009, France Telecom indicated the Minitel network still had 10 million monthly connections, among which 1 million are on the 3611 (directory). France Telecom is planning to retire the service on 30 June 2012.[2][3][1]" - Winckel from Bookmarklet

For all those people still using it it must be offering something that the Internet doesn't. - Stephan Planken from iPhone