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Popularity More and more people throughout the world are catching on the text messaging craze. In the middle of 2004, the message-sending rate has reached 500 billion messages per year. This means that text messaging has generated over 50 billion dollars of revenues (assuming rates are at USD 0.10 per message) for mobile phone networks. That is equivalent to almost 100 messages for each person on earth! Text messaging has grown more popular in Europe, Asia, and Australia. A trend shows that text messaging, or texting, is more popular with young urbanites. This is because sending short messages is much more affordable and practical than calling up another person through your mobile. In Australia, for instance, text messages cost AUD 0.20 - 0.25 each, while calls cost AUD 0.40 – 2.00 per minute. But definitely, the most frequent texters come from Southeast Asia, particularly in Singapore and the Philippines. Both these countries have mobile networks that employ a text messaging scheme that allows a user to send a certain number of messages free for a month. In the Philippines, websites such as Chikka, GoFISH, and BidShot even have SMS services online. Europe is the next continent bitten by this craze. Texters in Spain used to send 50 messages monthly in 2003, while Italian, German, and British users send about 35-40 messages per month. Text messaging is different in the US, though. Even with a low, per-message rate, the regular American sent a measly 13 message in 2003. This attitude to text messaging may be attributed to mobile phone users’ unlimited voice call minutes. The interactive, SMS-voting show American Idol has done its part in promoting text messaging in the United States. Aside from voting via SMS, a number of services and developments have
been made with regard to SMS technology. Nowadays, we can watch a channel
where people chat through text. They can register their nicks to a server,
and send their messages to the channel, where other viewers can interact
and react to their messages. There are also games on TV that can be
controlled via SMS. |
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