In a seeming confirmation of the US wireless market’s inherent naivety, a new research study has shown that SMS text messaging just isn’t as popular as other reports would have you believe. Sure, there have been trillions upon trillions of SMS text messages sent over the years, but just how does that translate to a “per capita” metric? According to this survey, it wouldn’t translate very well.
Researchers at Ipsos MediaCT found that SMS text messaging was either used by a mobile subscriber on a recurring basis, or almost not at all. In the US, 82% of respondents indicated that they had never used the text messaging feature on their mobile phone. A full 3% indicated that they had used text messaging on, at most, a monthly basis, while 15% used text messaging “every week or more.”
Apparently, US mobile subscribers using SMS text messaging do so frequently and regularly – the rest tend to not use the service at all. This has resulted in a lop-sided usage-distribution in the US.
So, what’s going on here? Are people just using email that much more frequently than SMS text messages? Is voice still “king” in the US?
Sound-off in the comments section – let us know how you use your mobile phone.
[Via: NYT]