IDC can now report that what is variously referred to as SMS, short messaging system, or text messaging remains Asia-Pacific's most popular service for mobile phone users. The motivation behind IDC's survey is that there were fears (or hopes, depending on your point of view) that SMS was about to be overtaken by new technology - 3G phones, new forms of content and email came to mind. Again, no problem there.
What did surprise this editor was that the survey was conducted in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Now, apart from China, which the survey analysts simply could not ignore, there are no developing markets in this list.
Remember, it was The Philippines which played a crucial part in the arrival of SMS. In the global context, another "new" country, Ecuador, is also playing its part. One is entitled to ask why the developing players were left out. For the record, the survey showed:
- less than 10% of mobile phone users are utilising services other than SMS;
- mobile phone penetration rates rose sharply in 2005, with the number of respondents who owned mobile phones reaching 90.2%, up from 80.2% in 2004; and
- SMS remains the most popular mobile data application, with 65% of the users sending text messages every day.
IDC concluded:
- the latest findings reveal that, despite the proliferation of content-rich mobile data services, the adoption of advanced services such as mobile phone payment, online mobile gaming and mobile email have yet to reach noteworthy levels of usage;
- improved adoption of different mobile data services will go hand in hand with the pervasiveness of mobile handsets capable of supporting such services as well as ease of use; and
- the challenge therefore lies with service operators and mobile phone vendors to educate and accustom the market to the value proposition of such services and mobile devices that come with affordable price tags.
We look forward to reporting how the developing markets will once again lead the way in all these impending challenges.
