[first posted to wavelinks 7 in May 2001]
15 Billion Text messages a month are clocked by the world’s 600+ network
operators.
SMS – Short Messaging Service or Text (aka ‘Txt’ in the classrooms of
Ireland) has come of age.
It really took off with the arrival of pre-paid mobiles in Europe. Cost conscious teenagers (and adults) are happily thumbing away 160 character messages (msgs) to each other. 10P per message for the sender – no cost for receiving.
Txt allows you to keep it short in a busy world, the awkward keypad entry is less of a discomfort because the message length is a maximum 160 characters. This has aided the evolution of a new sub language of ‘txt speak’, i.e. ‘R U able 2 C me now?’ = ‘are you able to see me now?’
TV networks and radio stations are beginning to opt for Txt as the preferred medium of interaction while the telex, fax, phone and even e-mail fade to the background.
News delivery and m-commerce are making their way on to mobiles with text services, bypassing the less preferred WAP technology that lacks Text’s low cost, e.g. a IEP10 pre-paid card will buy 100 txts, but the same IEP10 lasts only 50 minutes on WAP. Plus, Txt is more interactive: with the send and receive function, the end user can enjoy 200+ messages before top up, while a WAP user rarely interacts with anything more than a dumb Web server. Expect to see more B2B and field use of Txt by Irish businesses in the coming years.
Put those shades on – the future of Txt is very bright. Read more …..
http://www.smspress.com/ | http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/sms.html