The volume of text messages in the UK fell for the first time in history
7 billion text messages less in 2013, the number will fall again in 2014
According to The Guardian, the number of standard text messages (SMS) sent in Britain fell in 2013 for the first time in history. In 2013, around 145 billion text messages were sent or 7 billion less than 2012. Specialists predict that the trend will continue in 2014 and the number may fall to 140 billion. There are logical reasons for that to happen. First of all, many users are shifting from featured phones to smartphones, thus more users are starting to use internet based messaging services such as WhatsApp, Viber and Skype.
Deloitte research has commented the situation. According to Paul Lee, the tipping point of the old text messages is reached. On the other hand, the new internet based services are stronger than ever. In 2014, there will be billions of instant messages sent each day, in favor of SMS.
The first test message was sent in 1992 from a Vodafone engineer to the company’s director. Nokia manufactured the first mobile phone capable of sending and receiving messages in 1993. In 2001, the service became so popular that around 1 billion messages were sent each month. But in the ever changing tech world, nothing is static. BlackBerry introduces its BBM service in 2006, followed by Apple and its iMessage, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and many other instant messaging services. Many of the new messaging services began with desktop versions but the industry transformed the formats and brought them to the modern smartphones.
The popularity of the internet messengers began to increase and now they outstrip the number of texts. In the UK, over 160 billion instant messages were sent compared with 145 billion texts.
Source: The Guardian
