Telecom Lead America: SMS will live longer in the U.S. 91
percent of US Smartphone owners use SMS.
The SMS usage is 2.5 times higher than the most popular
social media app and over 8 times higher than the most popular Smartphone OTT
app.
62 percent of US Smartphone users have unlimited SMS
bundles, concluding that the right price is a main factor influencing
popularity of SMS vs OTT/IM services.
SMS & OTT/IM Messaging Services can co-exist with
consumers proving they use multiple messaging channels dependent on message
type and recipient.
Research by Acision, a mobile messaging provider, said
the five most popular OTT/IM services actively used by Smartphone owners
included Facebook (37 percent), Skype (17 percent), Twitter (17 percent), Apple
iMessage (11 percent) and BlackBerry Messenger (10 percent) — predominantly
social media networks.
WhatsApp, the only operating system independent
Smartphone OTT/IM application was used by 5 percent of US consumers.
The research indicated that US consumers send an average
of 107 SMS messages per week — top of all the messaging services. With 62
percent of US Smartphone users having unlimited SMS bundles this concludes that
the right pricing or package encourages SMS usage and may be an influencing
factor in the popularity of SMS vs OTT.
When asked about preference of SMS over OTT/IM messaging
services, Smartphone owners cited the main reasons for using SMS were core
service capabilities: speed of delivery (47 percent), reach (43 percent) and
reliability (38 percent).
The top 3 reasons to use OTT/IM messaging services over
SMS are enhanced service features: content sharing (28 percent), speed (27
percent) and works across devices (25 percent). 4 percent of Smartphone users
said that IM is more reliable and faster than SMS.
“The ubiquity, simplicity and reach of SMS continues
to make it the messaging service of choice among mobile users today — even for
Smartphone users that have easy access to SMS alternatives,” said James
Israel, senior vice president and general manager for North America at Acision.
While the research shows there is a continuing appetite
for SMS, Smartphone users are also interested in enriched SMS services.
