Despite the imminent tough economic times,
mobile messaging will experience robust growth over the next
five years according to a new study by ABI Research.
The new report predicts that
mobile messaging services revenues will grow from $151 billion
in 2008 to greater than $212 billion globally by 2013.
A mixture of both supply and side drivers will fuel the growth
but ultimately, says ABI, more and more customers will see
mobile messaging services as a more efficient way to
communicate than voice services. On a more ominous yet
practical note, ABI believes that the utility of mobile services
will keep them a necessity in tough economic times, particularly
since displaced workers need to be mobile to find work.
Once there are valid practical reasons for customers to use
messaging services on mobile platforms, ABI foresees that
suppliers—including operators, device OEMs, content providers and
middleware vendors —will be able to introduce compelling plans and
services.
Explaining the research, ABI principal analyst Dan Shey
commented, “Mobile messaging ARPUs are 85%+ of all handset data
services revenues regardless of region and will remain so for many
years. As messaging involves all the biggest players in the mobile
industry there will be incentives for all mobile messaging
suppliers to work cooperatively to serve customers well and propel
all parties through these rough economic waters.”