Contact:
Mag. My Hue McGowran
Phone: +43-1-81140-308
E-Mail: mcgowran@newsfox.com
| Pressbox | 
|
Texas (pte047/13.06.2005/15:28) - According to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association http://www.ctia.org/ , almost 5 billion text messages - SMSes - are sent in the US every month.
"Text messaging is just another example in this trend toward ubiquitous communication," said Texas A&M University http://www.tamu.edu communications professor Eric W. Rothenbuhler. "It comes to be normal for people to always be in touch and strange or unique for someone not to be."
Texting was widely used in Europe before it gained popularity, and even technicality in the US. Before it became the new, somewhat detached, way to communicate with friends and family, it was used for facilitating communication for the hearing-impaired, for example, or for alerting parents to their child's truancy.
Now in the States it is used to distribute personal ad-information and phone numbers from directory assistance.
"While the U.S. has been behind the rest of the world, we're catching up big-time," said Greg Wilfahrt, co-founder of SMS.ac, an online text-messaging company with 35 million subscribers.
Most mobile phone companies charge a monthly flat fee of US$10 for unlimited SMS services, but others like http://www.SMS.ac offer group and club memberships to subscribers.
"Is there ever a drawback to having anytime, anyplace connectivity?" Wilfahrt said. "That's probably up for debate. It's so addictive that you can do it anytime."
According to Pew Internet and American Life Project, those who use the texting service most frequently are younger people - aged between 18 and 27. Twenty-seven per cent of adults text regularly.
Wilfahrt predicts that text messaging eventually will be used for everything from unlocking car doors to voting for president. In some parts of Europe it is already possible to buy parking tickets, to reserve concert tickets, and even to find out what song is playing on your favourite radio station.
"Mobile phones will become your everything-in-one device," Wilfahrt said.
(end)
|
|
