Research by Acision Shows SMS Service is Important to Mobile Users

Short Message Service (SMS), more commonly considered “texting,” has been deemed the most prevalent messaging service in the United States by Acision.  The mobile messaging provider completed research indicating that SMS still offers the kind of speed and reliability consumers want.

SMS is a text messaging service that uses standardized communications protocols allowing the exchange of short text messages between either fixed lines or mobile phones. SMS text messaging is the most widely used data application in the world, with over three billion active users.

Research by Vanson Bourne found that 91 percent of U.S. Smartphone owners surveyed actively use SMS – almost three times higher than the most popular social media networking sites, and eight times more popular than a Smartphone OTT app.

“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. “Acision’s in-depth look into messaging offers new insights on user habits as well as their continuing dependence on SMS in conjunction with using other messaging services next to text.”

According to the research results, when users were asked about personalized services they want on their phones, 36 percent said they would be interested in a message delivery notification, closely followed by black/white listing, message search and group messaging.

“After looking at these results it is clear that while Smartphone OTT apps and related communities are growing in popularity it still has a long way to go to catch up with the reach, reliability and ubiquitous nature of SMS, especially as nearly half of smartphone respondents stated they would be lost without SMS,” said Jorgen Nilsson, Chief Executive of Acision. “As the leaders in messaging, we are excited about the new opportunities ahead, particularly in LTE messaging services where SMS will still play a leading role, but from part of the converged solution next to other services such as MMS, RCS and other carrier driven OTT messaging services.”