“I was wondering when this was going to happen,” John Paul Titlow reports for ReadWrite. “As soon as Apple launched iOS 5 last year, many of us in the tech press took one look at its iMessage feature and thought the same thing: The carriers are screwed. This week, we saw the first sign that that prediction may be coming true.”
“Carriers are still getting a hefty chunk of revenue from texting, but this week they saw the first-ever decline in SMS text messaging, according to a new report by independent mobile analyst Chetan Sharma,” Titlow reports. “In the third quarter of this year, the number of text messages people sent to one another in the U.S. dropped by about 2%. That may not sound like much, but considering how fast texting had been growing – especially among young people – the fact that the number declined at all is significant.”
Titlow reports, “It’s not that people are any less connected or firing off any fewer messages. They’re just doing it in different ways. One of the biggest culprits is indeed iMessage, which operates exactly as text messages do, but bypasses the carrier entirely for Apple to Apple communications. Another culprit is Facebook’s Messenger app. It turns Facebook’s desktop IM feature into a very SMS-like communication method, again without having to route messages through the mobile provider.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Text messages decline for first time ever in Q3, thanks to Apple’s iMessage, Wi-Fi, and others – November 12, 2012
Dear Apple, either make iMessage work every time or just give it up already – September 17, 2012
The disruptive power of Apple’s iMessage – March 22, 2012
I am happy I almost never have to send a text anymore. The carriers have brought this all upon themselves by [over]charging for something that costs them almost nothing.
File-system-check the wireless carriers!
carriers are screwed = evidence that justice exists
So many of my friends and family have iPhones now, that I’ve cancelled SMS through ATT. It’s only a $10 savings, but better in my pocket than in theirs.
I’ve recently done the same thing with Comcast. Between network internet sites, Netflix and Hulu+, I get everything I want to watch on the TV…for only $18 (includes tax). Magic Jack is my telephone service, leaving only internet with Comcast. My monthly bill has dropped from $180+ to $60.
As soon as LTE/4G arrives I’ll probably drop Comcast entirely.
Thank you AirPlay.
Network web sites & Hulu + have commercials. No thanks. (I TiVo everything to avoid commercials.. and no, I don’t pay monthly for Tivo since I wisely paid lifetime.)
Actually before iMessage there is already whatsapp. Whatsapp usage is 3 x of iMessage.
These telcos are not getting screwed.
They are agitated of losing a income model that has always been wrong.
Now I believe they will try to reduce or set limit further on your allocated Gig to increase profit .
So Apple is doing a great favor to all the consumers of every nation! Whatsapp too
Lol, bullshit. Source for whatsapp to send more than imessage?
Just because all of your friends etc use it, you cant just assume something like that. Remember that imessage is a integrated and extremely simple service on a huge user base.
It cannot happen fast enough….retribution for raping us with text charges.
They will just find another way to “rape” us like charging more for data. It’s like an ala carte channels for the cable companies. You would find yourself paying the same thing for less unless you just choose not to play the game.
No doubt.
Apple should open-source it, to get it into all smartphones, and then we can kiss texting plans goodbye.
I never understood how a ‘1’ and a ‘0’ should cost more when it is a text message then when it is a web page or a song or a video.
Texting is data pure and simple.
The carriers are greedy and consumers are stupid – the only reason they were able to profit so heavily from texting before.
Actually, it’s NOT “data pure and simple”. It’s using the circuits when they’re not otherwise used — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS.
I used 3rd Party apps to avoid the bs texting charge.
A lot more of my contacts Use iMessage than I expected, and also healthy amount of FB messenger — which will become the worst nightmare because anyone with a brain knows FB will eventually charge for messaging “reach” as soon as it becomes “essential”
Wait, let me shed a tear for poor Vampire (Verison) Wireless.
Not.
Silly article. Text messages are just being re-routed as data bits, for which the telcos still make plenty of money. Plus, who pays per text these days anyway? A decline in texts would just free up some network capacity without reducing monthly charges.
Verizon has already found a way around iMessage with their family plans making you buy unlimited calling and texting. Lets just hope ATT does not follow suit because I don’t need either more texting or more calling.
With Messages I’m where I was in 2005 with cell phones. It’s great when it works (right now it appears to be down) but not reliable enough to be depended upon solely. Hopefully they’ll work the kinks out soon so I don’t have to have texting and other message services for everyday communications. I love it when it works.
It’s a copy of BBM…..