SMS (Short Message Service) was part of the GSM specification more than 25 years ago. I doubt that the developers of the original SMS, who were probably also launching concepts like telephone video conferencing, would have anticipated the success of the SMS concept. Removable SIM card and SMS were the two most prominent features that GSM technology had over competing analog networks.
Initially though, SMS adoption was slow as messages could only be sent between users on the same network at the time. However, once the message center gateways between carriers and different networks were established, the momentum of SMS messages exploded exponentially.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, SMS messages were the bread and butter for most carriers. SMS is typically a best-effort service and delivery is not guaranteed, infrastructure support compared to voice services is minimal, and revenue from SMS messages exceeded revenue from voice services once cost was deducted operating equation.
However, competition between operators eroded this revenue share as contract plans (popular in Western markets) included unlimited text messages as part of the plan and competition for messages in the prepaid space also reduced the cost of the SMS.
The growing volume of text messages is causing mobile operators’ revenues to decline as traditional SMS takes a backseat to other text messaging networks. BlackBerry Messenger, iMessenger and Facebook’s mobile messaging service are taking revenue away from carriers. For example, social messaging costs carriers $14 billion in SMS revenue. They lost $8.7 billion in SMS revenue in 2010, according to Ovum.
What has further diminished SMS services are other text messaging devices that do not limit the message size to 140 characters and use the concept of group transmission, sending images, which SMS does not handle. Along with instant feedback if a message isn’t successful, Blackberry users will resort to SMS only if their contact doesn’t have a Blackberry. In fact, it is a unified messaging platform.
GSM MMS was a further addition used almost exclusively for early camera phones, with the idea that you can send a photo to another user, assuming they also have an MMS capable phone, and this would be the natural successor to SMS. However, the cost and unreliability of MMS services meant that the service never struck a chord with the public.
Today, the original SMS protocol represents only a fraction of the total volume of messages that circulate through the ether. The XMPP protocol has become the standard protocol for messaging platforms. Google uses it, also Skype and others. In fact, being an open standard, anyone can set up their own messaging platform. Many private corporations do this for security and liability reasons.
The best thing about XMPP messaging is that a single client can support multiple accounts. For example, you can have a Google Talk account for friends and family, a dedicated XMPP Jabber account for work, you can set your available status to unavailable for the Google Talk account during business hours and vice versa, with the work account. during the weekend. and out of hours.
So it’s no surprise to learn that, for the first time, text messages are surpassing phone calls. Let’s face it, with a phone call there’s so much unnecessary “wrapping” protocol that needs to be included, “Hi, how are you? Do you have time to talk about XYZ?” With texting, it’s universally accepted that you can get to the heart of what you want and get on with it. It’s ideal for busy people who don’t have time for the dignitaries of a phone call.
However, texting can cause you problems. Due to mobile forms of text messaging, it’s easy to react suddenly and launch a suitably caustic response to a text message, this almost always occurs during the consumption of alcoholic beverages. As we all know, with text messages you can’t take back or change what you do. What we need is a personal digital assistant on the smartphone, which is smart enough to delay such an SMS or switch it automatically, we hope!
To conclude, SMS will continue to be the dominant force in mobile technology for several years to come. According to Informa Research, global SMS traffic will total 9.4 trillion messages in 2016, up from 5.9 trillion messages in 2011. And the volume and value of mobile transactions worldwide will average annual growth of 42% between 2011 and 2016. Analysts predict a market worth $617 billion with 448 million users by 2016.
Mobile operators in the Americas and Asia Pacific, for example, derive approximately 40% of their mobile revenue from mobile broadband and messaging. But while mobile broadband is arguably the fastest growing revenue stream for operators, mobile messaging and voice are not dead yet, far from it,” said Stephane Teral, Principal Analyst for Infrastructure at Infonetics Research. mobile and operator economy.
“Doom prophecies for mobile operators’ SMS/MMS revenue stream are being overstated. Despite the popularity of overblown messaging apps like Apple’s iMessage and WhatsApp, our data shows SMS is growing every year from 2012 to 2016, delivering $1 trillion in operator revenue over those five years. And over that same period, voice revenue will decline only slightly, and will continue to represent a sizeable portion of operator revenue.”
