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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from CNET Asia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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SMS is sizzling
By Kavita Kaur
20/02/2001 URL: http://asia.cnet.com/digitalliving/tips/0,3800004921,20002144,00.htm You've heard about how all you'll soon need is a cellphone.
And of course, you've heard all those terms being bandied about--3G,
GPRS, WAP, and so on. But, fact is, while 3G (which should finally see
broadband on a cellphone) is at least two or more years away,
GPRS and WAP are here. But the bandwidth is so low that you can't do much.
The bottom line is--how many of us have WAP or even GPRS phones? Interestingly, there's something simple and cool and, most importantly, cheap, that plain vanilla cellphone users are using, and it's catching on like a bush fire. Free SMS Sites
QWERTY keyboard for your text message?
Cashing in on SMS
Coming soon to a mobile screen near you
With additional reporting by Singapore.CNET.com's Priscilla Wong, who suffers from constant ringing in her ears, thanks to her over-worked mobile. Free SMS sites
MobileOne www.excell.to SMS sizzles in Singapore SMS was created as part of the GSM Phase 1 standard. The first short
message is believed to have been sent in December 1992 from a PC to a
mobile phone on the Vodafone GSM network in the UK. Analysts estimated
that 12 billion SMS messages were sent worldwide during the month of December last year. Further estimates showed a 1 percent claim by Singapore during the festive season late last year, at a cool 150 million messages sent.
It's a new mobile culture
It's no wonder then that the younger set of mobile users have latched on to this phenomenon early.
A good indication of the SMS success story is given by Singapore operators. For
example, on Valentine's Day, StarHub estimated a 20 percent increase in the
number of SMS messages sent in Singapore as compared to regular days. Rivals
M1 quoted a high 3.7 million figure, while SingTel Mobile indicated 3
million text messages exchanged. Getting users hooked on to such text services on cellphones also sets the stage for future services when newer networks are set up for faster Internet access.
"They want people to get used to it so that when 3G is launched, consumers are familiar with using the phone key pad for text," said Rachel Miu, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research Singapore Pte Ltd. Messaging is fast, cheap and convenient. No wonder this service has exploded
on cellular networks and has become the hottest member in the mobile value-added service family. At the service provider end, it means extra moolah. According to M1, data service currently accounts for close to 5 percent of the company's total revenue. Goodies come in short (message) packages While the most commonly used application in SMS is the plain vanilla
person-to-person messaging, which is a big hit with young people, a whole
range of services are finding their way on to the mobile phone through
SMS. Service providers are using SMS to notify mobile phone users that they
have new voice/fax mail messages, about a bill due date, or about changes
in tariff.
Similarly, SMS is being used to used to deliver share prices, sports
scores, weather news, flight information, news headlines, jokes, astrological
predictions... all of it on that tiny cellphone. Make no mistake, service providers are encouraged by the tremendous response
from customers. On the cooler side, you no longer have to be content with the limited
number of ringtones or screensavers built into your phone. Thanks to
SMS, you can download new ring tones or screensavers from different sites
to your phone. Go to PictureMessaging.com and select the picture you want from
over 200 unique screensavers, fill in your mobile phone number and credit
card details and soon you will receive the picture via SMS. Similarly, visit RingTones.com for a range of music tones that are delivered
to you via SMS. However, a caveat: Before you think of impressing your
girlfriend by sending her the cool Mission Impossible ringtone, check
out compatibility issues--most of these extras work only with the latest
Nokia phones. QWERTY keyboard for your text messages Many sites specialize
in letting you send SMS messages to SMS-enabled cellphone owners around
the world for free. Simply register, enter the mobile number of the person
you wish to contact, type your message, and click on the send button. Popular instant messenger
ICQ too allows you to send SMS messages and receive replies at your ICQ
client. And remember, even
if you have a mobile phone, you can use the Net to send SMS messages for
free! That should save you a packet if you are a heavy SMS user. Cashing in on SMS Today almost all phones
have predictive text input--a feature that anticipates which word the
user is trying to generate, thereby significantly reducing the number
of key strokes needed for a message. As per estimates, widespread
incorporation of predictive text input into the installed base of cellphones will typically lead to an average rise of 25 percent in SMS traffic
per enabled user. Likewise, some phones have a
multiple messaging feature allowing the user to send the same message
to different recipients. Similarly, manufacturers are rolling out user-friendly
and easy-to-use terminals such as smart phones that have a QWERTY keyboard
rather than the limited keypad on standard cellphones, to facilitate
SMS. Almost all cellphone giants
are now focusing on chatting and instant messaging via SMS. Ericsson's
T20 has been positioned as "the first truly mobile Internet device for
young people", because it enables the owner to talk with friends on the
Internet via electronic messages in Web chat rooms. Similarly, Nokia recently released
a new cellphone-based chat system dubbed Nokia FriendsTalk, which adds
conventional chat room and instant messaging features to the basic SMS
system. AOL is also working to bring
its popular system to cellphones and is already working with Motorola.
Microsoft has announced similar plans for its MSN Messenger. Smaller companies
such as Tribal Voice are also in the process of linking their traditional
Internet instant messaging networks with cellphones. Another key features of SMS is
the "store and forward" methodology that is used to transmit messages. So,
if the end user is not available because the cellphone is switched off,
out of range, etc, whenever the unit gets back online (some operators
fix three days as the outer limit), the message will get to the user.
A SMS message can also be sent "certified" where it will notify the message
originator that the receiver has received the message. SMS is characterized by out-of-band
packet delivery and low-bandwidth message transfer, which on mobile networks
(which have little bandwidth on hand), results in a highly efficient means
for transmitting short bursts of data. Coming
soon M1 recently launched an SMS-based mobile portal service delivering content in real time. According to an M1 spokesman, the company views m-commerce (mobile commerce) and location-based services as future options.
Rival StarHub agrees that the potential for SMS doesn't stop in present time. As the youngest telco to offer consumer mobile services, StarHub plans to introduce more interactive services in the future.
Market
figures According to some operators, countries like Germany, Italy and Finland have recorded 200, 150, 75 million messages per month in March 1999, September 1999, and March 2000, respectively. While local operators
cannot boast of such exalted figures, they are surely on their way. The
numbers speak for themselves: MobileOne handles about 3 million messages
daily, SingTel Mobile boasts 2 million and StarHub manages about 2 million SMS messages on a daily basis. The
bottom line Similarly, unlike Web-based chat
rooms where you can key in as many messages you want without worrying
about the cost, on cell phone chat, you have to pay for each and every
chat message you send. So keep an eye on the meter! |
