With the current rate of growth of smartphones, it was only a matter of time before they will use messaging communication applications more than SMS messages themselves A fact confirmed by a study carried out by the consultant Informa, which has been echoed by the prestigious media outlet BBC And it is that WhatsApp,LINE, WeChat and many other apps more continue increasing their number of users and service, in a market where smartphones are already sold more than classic mobile phones
According to data from the study of Indorma, already in 2012this milestone was reached with 19 billion messages sent per day from different communication applications , while SMS text messages remained at a negligible figure of 17.6 billion A piece of information that shows the current trend of users and applications, but also hints at a problem that affects mobile operators And that is that they are the main victims when you decide to send a message through a free application, and not through your own messaging service.
Thus, another consultancy called Ovum estimates that these companies stopped earning some 23,000 million in 2012 dollars for the disuse of the classic text message. A figure that will increase according to current trends.And it is that further growth of both messaging systems is still expected, although unevenly. In this way, during 2014 it is believed that the number of 50,000 million messages per day through applications will be reached or Internet, while SMS messages would only reach the number of 21 billion daily messages
However, despite these figures, the consultancy Informa is optimistic regarding the continuation of SMS text messages And he believes that there are still a large number of users who do not have access to smartphones or Internet data plans Users from developing economies who will still be using this kind of messaging for their communication in the coming years.So much so that they dare to predict an increase in the profits of the operators for this service that would range from 115,000 million dollars to 127,000 million in 2016
There is no doubt that free messaging applications is a handicap for mobile operators, even encouraging users to buy smartphones to save in the long run by avoiding paying for SMS text messages In exchange , you only have to make a minimum annual payment of 89 cents, in the case of WhatsApp , which represents a saving compared to 15 cents for each text message Although LINEand WeChat, for example, do not even require an annual payment for their use, being completely free and focusing your business on the purchase of complements and additionsAs a countermeasure, the main mobile operators in Spain offer the SMS messaging service completely freewhen contracting a Internet data plan
