8 BILLION texts sent every day. Or 92,000 text messages sent every second of every day.

Tomi T Ahonen writes SMS text messaging worth 100 B dollars in 2007, where he covers clear and impressive numbers that show that the use of SMS is not slowing down, and won’t slow down at time soon.

• 8 BILLION texts sent every day. Or 92,000 text messages sent every second of every day.
• It WILL NOT die, it will not be supplanted by less-addictive and less powerful messaging such as email on wireless. (email is so last decade).

But what makes SMS so popular? Is it because it is addictive or because it is plain useful?

Well, I have a theory, and it is based on the characteristics of short messages, which makes texting convenient:

• Simple, short (straight to the point)
• Discrete: read message “privately” without disturbing others
• Guaranteed to be delivered
• Persisted: messages will remain around in the inbox until you are ready to read them
• Convenient: read the message now, respond now or later — indirect/deferred communication
• Cheap: unlimited texting plans are becoming much cheaper than unlimited voice plans

I will say that if done right (i.e. as long as is shares the same characteristics above), “voice short messages” have or should have great potential as well; voice will always be a killer app; listening to voice does add a different dimension to communication, even if deferred, but short texting is more convenient.

I will add to this another dimension or importance related to the short messaging infrastructure: “delivery of short data“, which can prove critical and essential for the survival of certain mobile applications.

Related to this topic see:
    * Analysis and Opinions on the Future of Messaging

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