What are the elements of business system?

SMS (Short Message System) Research

• Hello, I'm seeking information on the potential of SMS (Short Message System) gaining substantial market share and preference by mobile users around the world. SMS is mostly popular on GSM networks in Europe and Asia and is starting to catch on in the US. I would imagine that the following elements would be of value, along with any you think is relevant: 1. Estimated market size by region and language. 2a. A reasonably recent reference of the number of GSM users by Country segmented by the Americas, Europe, the middle east, Africa and Asia. 2b. A compilation of the GSM and the SMS situation in China and its growth. 3. SMS usage by age group and by intended use, meaning business, entertainment and so fourth. 4. Services and content expected to be popular in the near future. 5. A bit of probing into the philosophy of how people think of their mobile phones in terms of messaging and receiving/exchanging content with others, individuals and corporate service providers. 6. How open/closed are global markets to International competitors in the field of content and services via SMS. 7. Where is WAP heading with SMS being where it is and how it seems to be moving in the future. /Lizardnation

• Answer:

  Hi! Thanks for this very interesting question. SMS or Short Messaging System or what is known popularly in most countries, as text messaging is really one of the so-called killer Apps in the mobile phone industry in Europe and in Asia. The worldwide market situation of SMS is funny since it is one area in information technology wherein the US lags behind even among third world countries. I will try to answer your questions point by point. 1. The Gartner Group estimates that 12 billion SMS messages are sent worldwide in a variety of medium either by PCs, PDAs and most popularly via mobile or cell phones. The following links point out this study and also a breakdown of SMS messages sent in different regions of the world. To answer number 1 of your question EMC provides data of cellular cell phone subscribers in the different regions. The European and Asian regions dominate this filed significantly. EMC's World Cellular Subscriber Forecasts 30/10/2001 http://www.emc-database.com/website.nsf/index/pr011030#this-page The GSM industry situation is summarized here. GSM continues to be the leading cellular technology http://www.emc-database.com/website.nsf/index/pr010319#this-page GSM Usage is expected to soar http://www.emc-database.com/website.nsf/index/pr000714#this-page The following are all about GSM statistics and graphs: http://www.gsmworld.com/news/statistics/index.shtml Sales of SMS countries in different parts of the world are presented in the following links so that you could have a good idea SMS Continues to Take Messaging World by Storm By Michael Pastore http://cyberatlas.internet.com/markets/wireless/article/0,1323,10094_733811,00.html Europe's SMS Love Affair Set to Continue Through 2004 http://www1.frost.com/prod/corpnews.nsf/0/C9942B068BEECB6580256B7A004E9154 Data about SMS messages sent according to GSM users in the UK. http://www.mda-mobiledata.org/resource/releases/pr17012000.asp This article provides us with the situation of worldwide SMS investments. WORLD MOBILE OPERATORS RISK PUTTING US$69 BILLION MESSAGING MARKET AT RISK http://www.prweb.com/releases/2001/11/prweb29760.php Cellular2002: A Study of the Worldwide Cellular Telephone Market http://www.alexanderresources.com/reports/Report2/Summary.htm -------- 2a. Subscribers of SMS countries in different parts of the world are presented in the following links so that you could have a good idea. The following data shows telecom companies, which have 2 million or so subscribers. Asia (http://www.cellular.co.za/stats/stats-asia.htm) Europe (http://www.cellular.co.za/stats/stats-europe-over-2million.htm) Africa (http://www.cellular.co.za/stats/stats-africa.htm) South Africa (http://www.cellular.co.za/stats/statistics_south_africa.htm) North America (http://www.cellular.co.za/stats/statistics_north_america_gsm.htm) South America (1.6 million subscribers) Mentioned at the end of this article (http://www.gsmworld.com/about/structure/s_america.shtml) ------------ 2b. Due to its population size China should have been the leading Asian country in terms o SMS messaging. It still lags behind such countries as the Philippines (billed as the text capital of the world), Indonesia and Malaysia. But such services were only introduced to Chine in 2000 and the market may be changing more quickly than expected. The following are the links about China’s mobile phone messaging situation: Foreign SMS-C vendors battle for slice of Chinese messaging market http://www.emc-database.com/website.nsf/index/pr011126#this-page http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020325/1/2myga.html http://www.inq7.net/brk/2002/mar/25/brkbus_2-1.htm ----------------- 3. For the market segments here is what I find: Instant messaging becoming a hit in Asian market--analysts http://archive.inq7.net/archive/2001-p/inf/2001/aug/16/inf_3-1-p.htm It does not just smell like teen spirit anymore according to this article, businesses are finding ways to use SMS at the workplace Text messaging comes of age By Kate Pritchard http://www.vnunet.com/Features/1126659 -------------------- 4. It is almost unanimous that the next wave of killer Apps and services should be on 3G phones. The following links describe this idea. Test run for future phones (from BBC news) http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1705000/1705593.stm About GSM, the technology is evolving and this website is catered to such interest. It lists different articles on how GSM could be tied up with emerging mobile phone technologies. http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/index.shtml ----------------- 5. The following are information regarding how people treat their mobile phones and why they use it for SMS. The Philippines' Other Revolution. (Think Wireless.) By Paul Kaihla http://www.business2.com/articles/web/0,1653,11659,FF.html Wedding rings: Mobile is the food of love http://www.guardian.co.uk/efinance/article/0,2763,365094,00.html Wireless Teens: Opportunities and Trends http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:YyFnUraIznYC:www.mobilethink.dk/downloads/WireLessTeens.pdf+%22text+messaging%22+user+age+group&hl=en http://www.mobilethink.dk/downloads/WireLessTeens.pdf (PDF file version) ----------------- 6. This question provides for issues regarding penetration to SMS services. The US is one country which has surprisingly has a problem. The problem of SM in the US market are mentioned here: http://guide.darwinmag.com/technology/communications/messaging/ Another issue is a country’s cultures and laws: Text messaging tests China's freedom http://news.com.com/2100-1033-851788.html?tag=cd_mh CELLULAR MOBILE PRICING STRUCTURES AND TRENDS http://www1.oecd.org/dsti/sti/it/cm/prod/e_99-11.htm ------------------ 7. WAP is not as popular as SMS and people give different reasons and perspectives. The following articles sum it up and also some more data about SMS messaging markets can be found within the articles. http://archive.inq7.net/archive/2001-p/inf/2001/jul/11/inf_1-1-p.htm http://www.pyramidresearch.com/static_content/feature_articles/001220_feature.asp http://www.mobileinfo.com/WAP/future_outlook.htm http://www.business2.com/articles/web/0,1653,16474,FF.html http://www.thinkmobile.com/Phones/Cell/Article/00/01/16/ Gates casts doubt on WAP future http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/09/12/000912hngateswap.xml?0912t Search terms used: SMS “text messaging” market data service issues WAP future services Hope this would be of help to your research. Thanks again for visiting us at Google Answers and I am very happy to be of service to you once again. Regards, Easterangel-ga