SMS

SMS, often referred to as "text messaging," is a form of mobile communication wherein short messages, up to 160 characters, are sent to and from mobile devices. SMS was originally developed for use with GSM networks and devices, but usage has spread across multiple kinds of access technologies, meaning SMS messages can be exchanged even when the sender and recipient are on networks that use differing technologies, such as GSM user on one network communicating with a CDMA user on another.

Today, SMS is one of the most popular applications for mobile devices worldwide, and is contributing greatly to operators' continuously growing wireless data revenue. According to a June 2007 report by Telephia, premium SMS revenues made up a third of mobile content revenue in the US for Q1 2007, totaling more than $273 million, fully 32 percent of mobile content revenue. A September 2007 report by Informa states that SMS activity worldwide increased by 50% year over year, to more than 620 billion messages in Q1 2007. In October 2007, CTIA announced that SMS users in the US alone send more than 1 billion text messages per day.

SMS is similar to the popular Multimedia Message Service (MMS), which supports multimedia messages including text, video, and audio. Both services are widely supported by wireless operators and equipment vendors, and both are based on open standards to facilitate interoperability across different phone models and wireless networks. SMS is a continued success as the cheapest, quickest, worldwide form of mobile communication.

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