Mobile messaging marches on.
Verizon Wireless hit a new benchmark for SMS: 10 billion texts were exchanged this past June. It was just last September that the 5 billion mark was hit! Doesn’t anybody talk anymore?
Also, MMS usage doubled during the same period as 200 million picture and video messages were exchanged. Interestingly, I’m told by VZW insiders that MMS adoption and growth is exceeding the rates set by SMS.
Now, the big MMS news is AT&T’s nationwide launch of its Video Share service in over 160 markets. Available exclusively over the AT&T 3G wireless network, it is the first app to use the company’s Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) platform.
The new service enables users to generate streaming video over their handsets providing new meaning to reality TV. Of course this kind of thing is la norme in Asia and Europe, but hopefully, this development marks the beginning of more such advancements in the United States.
Speaking of which, the CTIA shines some light on the state of the industry on this side of the pond in several key market scenarios. Seems we talk more and our price per minute is significantly lower than in the rest of the world. In terms of the number and types of wireless handsets available, the U.S. outpaces everyone as well. Download the report to get the full picture.
These stats, while interesting, only point out why VZW’s 10 billion text messages seem fairly insignificant when compared to global SMS traffic. Internationally, in the 1st Quarter of 2007, 620 billion messages were exchanged.
With the exception of Hong Kong there is no place where talk is as cheap as it is in the U.S. And, despite our steady progress, that’s why we’ll never catch up to the rest of the world when it comes to the use of mobile messaging. But that’s really not such a bad thing.