The war between SMS and applications like WhatsApp continues
SMS messages are in clear decline The possibilities of smartphonesand Internet to communicate in a practically unlimited way are causing the text message to fall into disuse faster each year. However, there are studies that predict the survival or agony of this service for another five years From what it seems that the fight betweencompanies and communication applications will continue for a while.
At least this is the conclusion reached by a study by Informa Telecoms & Media, which ensures that the text message or SMS traffic will continue to be majority until 2016, even exceeding the use of popular apps like WhatsApp, ChatOn, iMessage , BlackBerry Messenger, etc A fact that, to say the least, attracts attention. Although you have to look at the details to understand this situation.
Specifically, according to this study, text messages accounted for almost 65 percent of the traffic in 2011 worldwide, and it is expected that by 2016 it will be reduced to 42 percent One reduction in its use whose place will be taken by the mentioned free messaging applications over the InternetThese will increase from a subtle 17 to 35 percent in use over the next five years , being still below messages Something that is quite hard to believe given the rate of expansion of smartphonesand growth in contracting of data rates
But this is precisely what maintenance would produce in the use of SMS And it is that, the mobile companies around the world seem to try to defend this service with all kinds of promotions, even offering the Free service when contracting a data rate, as Movistar And not only that. text messages continue to be a good service for businesses that want to get their directly and personally, for banks that send security codes to their customers or, even, to avoid having to print a home travel ticket, being able to carry a locator number in a text message and print it on amachine autocheck-in
The case of Spain is somewhat more drastic, and that is that the evolution of sales of smartphones is different for each country. In our country, which has the highest concentration of smartphones in the world, the drop in the use of SMS messages has been very remarkable. While other countries have increased their traffic, in Spain has decreased by 27 percent in its use. Something that has had a direct impact on the income of the teleoperators, who have stopped earning 26 percent in recent years In our country. Which translates into 10,400 million euros worldwide just last year
But make no mistake, we are in a change process where the SMS will lose strength in favor of the different current applicationsAnd this will not mean the loss of income for the mobile operators that are substituting the profits of the SMS service for Internet rates Their importance is such that in recent months we have witnessed the creation of different communication platforms that directly depend on of the own companies Tools like TU Me, the latest to arrive from the hand ofTelefónica, or Joyn, which intends to compete directly against WhatsApp Applications that are free to download and serve, at least for the moment
Via: El País
