Mobile Messaging is now an inexpensive, efficient and instantaneous method of reaching your customers, clients, business contacts and members of your organisation locally, nationally or internationally.
Most countries now have over 100% mobile phone penetration which means you can now reach almost anybody at anytime on their mobile phone and with approximately three Billion mobile phones in use around the world today there are Billions of mobile phone users out there who are just a message away from you and your organisations products and services.
SMS & MMS became popular purely as person to person communication tools but most organisations are now looking for ways to get their Products & Services information directly to mobile phone users.
SMS (Short Message Services)
The most widespread form of Mobile Messaging that most of us are generally familiar with and has been around for over ten years now is SMS Messaging or commonly referred to as text messaging. SMS or short message services are restricted to 160 characters in size but up to 640 characters can be sent in certain instances.
The popularity of SMS technology owes its success to its simplicity, speed, ease of use and the descreet nature in which it can be used.
TV shows like "Big Brother" and "Your a Star" with their SMS voting and mobile polls have made SMS messaging a valuable commercial tool. There can be no doubt that allowing large audiences to text in their opinions and votes to TV shows instantly has proven to be a lucrative revenue generating business. Due to its simplicity, efficiency and low cost SMS has proved it is not just here to stay as a means of communication but also as a commercially viable business tool when used correctly.
MMS (Multimedia Message Services)
MMS is a slightly newer technology which has only become popular in the last 3-5 years. Most of us have received a picture message from a friend or family at some stage and this is the most common use of MMS.
However, most people would not be aware of the fact that audio, video, software and even large amounts of text can also be sent as an MMS message. MMS is quickly gaining in the popularity stakes but it has a long way to go to match the number of SMS messages sent every year. The rapid introduction of more sophisticated handsets on the market every day is definately making MMS messaging more popular and new and exciting commercial applications of MMS are appearing every day as a result.
Here's some interesting facts about SMS & MMS messaging:
- According to the Irish Telecoms Regulator Comstat.ie there are 800,000,000 (Eight hundred million) SMS messages and 3.5 million MMS messages sent every month in Ireland
- That's 9.6 Billion SMS messages and 42 Million MMS messages sent every year in Ireland or 2250 SMS and 120 MMS messages sent for every man woman and child currently in Ireland
- About 30% of these messages are now commercial in nature i.e. Business to customer and customer to business or sometimes referred to as Enterprise Messaging
- According to International Research enterprise SMS volumes will have increased by 50% in the five years to 2010
- As mobile handsets have become more sophisticated and common place MMS Messaging is now growing at 9.2% per annum across the European Union
- Research carried out in 2007 by a Global Telecoms Supplier found that 39% of Businesses were considering MMS Marketing campaigns compared to 22% the previous year
- The same researchers IN 2007 found that 95% of mobile handsets in Europe and North America are now MMS capable.
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