Instant Messaging an Upgrade to SMS
Here is this scoop from New Telephony about some major announcements about the future of SMS and Instant Messaging. Actually, it basically states that the future of SMS is Instant Messaging.
The unforeseen popularity of ringtones may be synonymous with “windfall” for mobile operators, but text messaging is really the one to watch. That’s why industry bigwigs at last week’s 3GSM World Congress were plotting ways to upgrade the unglamorous, yet ubiquitous, texting with new IP capabilities in hopes of capturing even more revenue from what is already a cash cow.
Global SMS revenue is expected to grow to a whopping $67 billion by 2012, according to Portio Research. That makes it the most lucrative data service for carriers, and the second biggest application, by revenue, after voice. The most immediate way to bump that figure up is by coaxing existing SMS users into trying — and loving – mobile IM. While mobile presence and chat isn’t new, what’s held it back is a lack of interoperability between operator communities and the need to have special handsets, software, complex configurations or expensive data packages.
The new thinking around mobile IM is that the industry needs to create a service that is as easy to use as texting; takes advantage of existing phone capabilities and phone books, with a standard interface; and is guaranteed to work, regardless of which operator the addressee is using or whether the user is sitting at a PC or using a mobile device. Billing models may be more akin to the text-messaging model than the mobile Internet model, with either a low incremental charge or a low flat-rate monthly subscription for unlimited messaging.
I personally believe that SMS must evolve to further provide new and improved services to end users and customers. IM is already a big thing. In the Philippines, Yahoo Messenger is pretty popular and probably more IM messages are sent amongst the tech savvy users in the populace than electronic mail. This pool of IM users should readily move to IM on mobile given the chance and acceptable cost. Imagine having enhanced presence provided by the mobile phone over the basic availability information. This enhanced presence information will open up new fields for interesting applications (some of which will benefit from LBS).
Aside from costs, usability is also very important. It should be as pervasive and easy to use as possible. Limiting IM services to Nokia Series 60 phone users is really restricting the market acceptance of that solution. The more people who use it the more popular it will become. For better reach, OMA IMPS must be supported to enable most feature phones’ native IM client to be supported.
Of course, SMS will still continue to be the most popular data service in the country (most popular mobile service) for sometime to come. However, I see a group of users who will be willing to jump into the Instant Messaging bandwagon. That group definitely includes me.
