Much has been reported about how pricing has driven the increased use of the short message service (SMS), but analyst Declan Lonergan of Yankee Group Consumer Research says SMS also succeeds by meeting a need for non-intrusive communication that is reliable and relatively simple to use.
“There were no analysts, including me, who predicted how successful SMS would become,” Lonergan says. In spite of a rather complicated user interface (“You have to tap the keys two or three times to get your message in”), the value proposition of SMS was compelling enough to create what Lonergan calls “a social phenomenon.”
He says: “It fundamentally changed how people behave in communications, the frequency of their communications, and the instances in which they communicate with each other. Where people previously would not have made a phone call because of the intrusiveness, they now use SMS.
“SMS just absolutely filled this void, and it wasn’t a void we could have predicted.”
Worldwide, an estimated 2 trillion text messages were sent in 2007, according to Portio Research. In the UK alone, 1 billion messages are sent each week, the Mobile Data Association reports. SMS volume continues to grow, and Lonergan says it shows no signs of slowing down, although revenue growth is generally flatter.
While the growth of SMS is often attributed to young “digital natives,” in reality text messaging transcends age and demographics. Beyond person-to-person communications, SMS offers unlimited uses, Lonergan says. In emerging markets like Africa, SMS is a tool for entrepreneurial pursuits as well as public health. In the UK, clinics are experimenting with the African model of using SMS for patient notifications. In Germany, automaker BMW communicates with its customers through SMS, issuing reminders such as when to put on snow tires.
Lonergan says SMS leads on the simplicity front – it is universally available on any mobile phone, often at flat rates, and users can be almost certain their messages will be received. By contrast, MMS, instant messaging and e-mail applications generally require users to download clients, install settings or perform upgrades; and they are frequently offered with confusing or uncertain price points.
“Even though it’s a relatively straightforward task to download something, to most consumers it looks like one more reason not to do it,” he says.
For mobile applications to succeed as well as SMS, Lonergan says they must meet some basic human need, be accessible to the target customer groups – not least in terms of price – and meet customers’ expectations of performance and reliability.
“You can’t always predict where the next killer application is going to come from, but you must try to ensure that new services have the characteristics that are common to all successful mass market services. Other services can follow where SMS has led.”
