Disqus
According to a recent report from ABI Research, SMS will continue to maintain its lead as the highest revenue generator across all messaging categories, providing global service revenues of $177 billion in 2013. However, ABI notes it’s the regional differences that will determine the success of messaging expansion into the Web, advertising, and the incorporation of mobile messaging within social networking media.
ABI’s principal analyst Dan Shey says there are some innovative companies which are exploring opportunities for expanding mobile messaging access to web sites as well as targeting customers with content and ads. He went on to add: “To be successful with these enhanced services, companies that supply mobile messaging products and services must understand the regional distributions for customer type, payment preferences, message delivery method, and usage.”
For instance, North America and Europe have the highest messaging ARPUs, and send the most messages from the computer to the mobile device using IM; Asia-Pacific subscribers sign up for the most SMS alert services; and Latin Americans are heavy SMS users, but prefer pay-as-you-go for all messaging services.
These regional differences will cause established messaging suppliers to reevaluate their business models. “This is a great time for smaller companies to develop new products and services individually and in partnerships to serve the niche needs of a region or country,” Shey added.
More information about ABI Research’s report entitled “Mobile Messaging Services” is available on their website.
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
