Just how many SMS text messages do US wireless users go through each month, day, or hour? According to VeriSign, a veritable boatload – a technical term, to be sure.
The Mountain View, CA.-based company has announced that it ferried about 95.4 billion SMS text messages between wireless carriers in the 1H 2008. The volume of text messages set a new record for text messages sent in the first half of any year to date. Add to that the fact that VeriSign pushed through a record-breaking 648 million texts in a single day and 42 million text messages in a single one-hour window, and it becomes clear that more and more users are becoming savvy to the SMS text messaging craze.
Q2 2008 alone saw 52 billion messages zipping through the wireless airwaves, with daily averages in the period hitting 572 million messages – more than double the average daily volume of 230 million messages in Q2 2007.
What’s to account for the boost in text message usage? It’s most likely a combination of increased wireless penetration in the US, an increase in savvy consumers with SMS-friendly keyboard-toting smartphones, and perhaps the prevalence of mobile phones among the younger demographics.
In the end, we’ll likely see SMS text messages take a back seat to instant messaging and email services that aren’t subject to per-message fees or messaging limits.
[Via: RCR]