Despite the spread of smartphones over the last few years, and with them the ability to communicate via mobile instant messaging applications, SMS has remained the number one form of non-verbal communication from mobile phones.
Applications such as Blackberry Messenger and Google Talk (Android) certainly come with some powerful features that go above SMS messaging, so why is it that the number of SMS messages sent each year continues to grow despite smartphone usage rising?
Essentially it’s down to the fact that virtually all mobile phones, smart or otherwise, have the ability to send and receive SMS messages. So whether you want to find out what time you’re meeting a friend tomorrow night or want to wish your grandparents a happy anniversary, SMS messages are the perfect medium – any handset can receive them.
It’s also true that the MIM applications preloaded on most smartphones are platform dependant, so even when a peer group all use smartphones, MIM applications are impractical or unnecessary.
When I first purchased an Android mobile phone I had a reasonable number of contacts in Google Talk, but as these people have either moved to BlackBerry, iPhone or simply stopped using the application, Google Talk has become irrelevant and this is a likely scenario many people experience.
With many phone contracts now being offered with unlimited free SMS messages, texting is seen not only as an acceptable way to communicate but in many ways as the better option both for consumers and marketers ensuring SMS is a medium of communication that is likely to continue to thrive in the years to come.