VeriSigns Messaging and Mobile Media Division released its Q1 mobile messaging statistics today. According to the company, numbers of both national and international SMS have spiked incredibly even since last year.
SMS
VeriSign reports that during Q1 2009, it carried an average of 932 million messages per day around the world. This is not only 18.5% more than the previous quarter, but 96% greater than the same period last year. In APAC in particular, some countries saw a rise in SMS volume of a factor of 10, and international texting increased by 30%
MMS
MMS didn’t perform AS WELL as SMS, but the number of MMS carried this quarter rose 130% compared to last year.
Enterprise
Enterprise texting grew hugely over the last year. With more companies and institutions using SMS to stay connected with their customers, VeriSign reports that the amount of enterprise SMS sent by institutions to their customers grew 88% over the year. This was particularly driven by the financial sector, with a 63% increase from institutions such as Western Union, U.S. Bank, Fifth Third Bank, and Huntington National.
Via India PR Wire
From the release:
“Growth in mobile messaging volumes remains a consistent bright spot in the mobile wireless environment,” said Basavaraj Nagaraj, Senior Manager of Product Management, for VeriSign’s Messaging and Mobile Media Division. “As consumers and enterprises increasingly rely on mobile messaging to stay connected anytime, anywhere, the mobile industry relies on VeriSign to ensure that those messages reach their intended destination. We are making the investments necessary to deliver the reach, reliability and scalability needed for 2009. The growth of mobile messaging in Asia Pacific this quarter has once again proven its popularity among mobile subscribers and highlights how SMS/MMS messaging has become an integral part of their lives. We are extremely delighted to be a part of this growth and will continue to help our customers to reach their goals.”
What we think?
Once again, SMS proves itself to be pretty much indestructable. I’m particularly happy to see that Enterprise SMS is doing so well – as people get more and more used to doing important business (like their finances) over their mobile, it will ease them into doing more complex things. I almost feel like a pusher here – I feel like saying “oh, you like financial SMS, huh? Well, that’s just a taste. Come over here and look at this banking application…”
Cian: well done — short and to the point. The research I’m seeing points to one conclusion: WW use of mobile phones as a day–to-day productivity tool is on a steep upward trend. As near as I can tell it’s driven by developing countries (who lack infrastructure, so mobile becomes their infrastructure). In the US perhaps not so much (even though smartphone adoption is through the roof, my impression is that in the US social media and game drive use — but that may be a bias attributable to reading too many comments on the internet).
Best Wishes,
Scott Charles
PlumbBob Research