2008 Year in Review: Mobile messaging continues to surge

Mobile messaging growth continued to astound in 2008. Global messaging volume increased close to 10 percent in the third quarter alone according to Internet infrastructure services provider VeriSign, which notes the period also witnessed the emergence of several new trends, among them messaging initiatives tied to social and political change and marketing, mobile messaging for charitable donations and a significant growth in mobile messaging by enterprises and financial institutions. In all, VeriSign's mobile messaging networks enabled more than 58.3 billion messages in Q3, up from 52 billion in the previous quarter--from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, its combined mobile messaging networks delivered 153 billion total messages, representing a 142 percent increase year-over-year and on pace to more than double last year's total of 95.9 billion mobile messages. Assuming VeriSign comes close to its projected 2008 total of 200 billion messages, the resulting operator revenues would translate to more than $7 billion.

Just how much do consumers depend on mobile messaging services? An overwhelming percentage of users admit to engaging in inappropriate or even dangerous behavior to access and respond to email during off hours according to a recent consumer study conducted by Osterman Research and commissioned by software firm Neverfail. The study found that 94 percent of respondents use their phones to send email or text messages during worknights or on weekends, and nearly 96 percent never leave their phones at home, even on vacation. Mobile email addiction has driven 79 percent of respondents to send messages from their phones while in the bathroom--another 71 percent admitted to texting behind the wheel of a moving automobile, and 41 percent said they've texted on commercial flights while the plane was in mid-air. Most remarkable, 11 percent of respondents said they've sent mobile email while engaged in "intimate behavior."

And messaging use shows no signs of slowing down, regardless of the dire economic forecast. Worldwide mobile messaging services revenues will increase from $151 billion in 2008 to more than $212 billion by 2013 according to a recent forecast issued by market analysis firm ABI Research. The ABI report states a growing number of customers view mobile messaging as a more efficient means of communication than voice services, adding that mobile services will remain a necessity throughout bleak economic times since displaced workers will need to be mobile to seek out work. Given the vital importance of messaging revenues across the globe, operators must cross their fingers that ABI's forecast is on the money.