SMS continues to be a phenomenal success as the cheapest, quickest and easiest to use form of P2P mobile communication, according to a new report from Portio Research. By 2012 global SMS revenues are expected to reach $67 billion, driven by a whopping 3.7 trillion messages. The addition of new subscribers in markets such as Asia makes up for any decline in prices. The report states the growth rate in Asia alone (where every five minutes for the next six years 2,267 people will have bought their first-ever mobile phone) will translate into a boom in SMS traffic.
Not so in North America, where mobile instant messaging (MIM) will supplant SMS as the mainstream messaging service. Against this backdrop, operators must “strike a balance between SMS and IM pricing in order to prevent the cannibalization of SMS revenues in the future,” the report concludes. Press release.
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