SMS wins every time

Might be more popular in the states because of cheaper/free SMS rates but it would be interesting to see how SMS is fairing against the explosion of BlackBerrys and cross-platform messaging apps in this country.

Also, nothing quite like reassurance that SMS is here to stay from someone who probably has a lot more vested in the technology than most people :D
 
I foresee the decline the of SMS, as more and more smartphones enter the market. Also as apps become available to more smartphones (Such as skype, Whatsapp , etc) irrespective of the O/S and cheaper data pricing.
 
The thing about sms is that u know the person will get it.. only thing close to it is bbm but i don't add everyone and stranger to my bbm contact list. So while the internet/data based apps may offer similar and more advance services, sms get delivered freely(IM clients assume the receiver can pay for data received) and there is always fact that its harder to be untraceable with sms i think?
 
Fudzy said:
Might be more popular in the states because of cheaper/free SMS rates but it would be interesting to see how SMS is fairing against the explosion of BlackBerrys and cross-platform messaging apps in this country.
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There is no doubt that BBM, Whatsapp and Mxit are cannibilising person to person (P2P) SMS messaging, however for business communication there is little competition for SMS. Firstly, none of the new IM tools provide an application to person (A2P) interface, and it can therefore not be integrated into existing business systems, whether it be accounting, customer care or logistics.

Secondly, most IM tools work on a whitelist basis, and people typically only add their closest contacts to the list. Few are likely to add businesses they communicate with to their personal IM or SN services.
 
ThinkCentre said:
BulkSMS should be banned for life! Very irritating!
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This typically only applies to unsolicited direct marketing messages which I agree is a nuisance. In South Africa, legislation such as the proposed Protection of Personal Information is desperately needed. This legislation proposes an opt-in regime for direct marketing communications.

Application to person messaging is however used for many applications that are completely unrelated to marketing. Most application to person messages are now single messages, and not group messages. It includes transaction notifications, appointment reminders, process updates and emergency notifications.

Unfortunately when it comes to marketing, businesses tend to over communicate. However, when it comes to customer care, businesses tend to under communicate.
 
ProSMS said:
Secondly, most IM tools work on a whitelist basis, and people typically only add their closest contacts to the list. Few are likely to add businesses they communicate with to their personal IM or SN services.
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Well there highlights the biggest bugbear with SMS, unsolicited spam. I'd add my bank to my IM if it meant that I had to add less numbers to my phone as bank notification sources.
 
ProSMS, assuming you are BulkSMS or a similar company. Why is it that with ISPs there are rules against their mail servers being used to used for unsolicited spam where in the SMS industry it seems the scrupulous activity is almost endorsed. Given nothing more than a finger wagging and warnings of 'legislation' (which I have never seen implemented).
 
If we take out spam, is SMS usage growing as much or as fast as BulkySMS believes? I guess not - caution, theory not tested.

Taking the USA market and comparing it to other markets like South Africa will not provide realistic assessment of the markets which have different variables. Like what others have already pointed out, the cost of sending SMS in USA is almost next to zero. In our local market it costs about $0.20 plus per SMS. There are more prepaid subscribers in SA than contact subscribers (75% vs. 25%) but the opposite holds for USA. Since SMS' are in many cases bundled within the contract packages, there is usually no reason for someone to check his/her remaining balance after sending an SMS, which may be the case for prepaid services. With IM as an alternative solution, it would be interesting to compared the number of SMS send by people with smartphones against the number of IM sent by the same people per day. You might be surprised with the outcome.
 
Fudzy said:
Why is it that with ISPs there are rules against their mail servers being used to used for unsolicited spam where in the SMS industry it seems the scrupulous activity is almost endorsed. Given nothing more than a finger wagging and warnings of 'legislation' (which I have never seen implemented).
Click to expand...

With both WASPs and ISPs, their respective industry organisations (WASPA and ISPA) have rules against unsolicited direct marketing messages. In the WASPA code it is contained in section 5. Most importantly, businesses may not send direct marketing communications without the consent (opt in) of the recipient. For non-clients, the opt-in must be explicit, and for existing clients opt-in can be inferred under certain circumstances. WASPA enforces these opt in requirements, and many complaints against spam have been upheld.

Contrast this with the current laws of the country (ECT Act, CPA) and the Direct Marketing Association which still advocates an opt out regime. The proposed Protection of Personal Information Bill will change this, and also proposes an opt-in regime, similar to the WASPA and ISPA codes.

I have personally been successful with every SMS spam complaint that I have lodged with WASPA against WASPs whose servers were used for spam. It requires some knowledge of the code and persistance.
 
vzta22 said:
With IM as an alternative solution, it would be interesting to compared the number of SMS send by people with smartphones against the number of IM sent by the same people per day. You might be surprised with the outcome.
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Here is an interesting study on this question:
http://www.tnsglobal.com/news/news-13B3916A7F4A40E694C47912EC09EB8A.aspx

Active MIM users send 40% less SMS messages compared to non MIM users. There is no doubt that MIM is cannibilising SMS for person to person messaging, although I believe SMS will stabilise at a lower level for P2P messaging.

However, for application to person messaging there is not much competition yet. Any developer wishing to integrate mobile messaging into any application at this stage would prefer SMS.
 
Nice article, but why did we need such a big picture of Peter? There was already a small pic and a bio to the right of the article.

Vain much? :P
 
WASPA Code

Fudzy said:
Where can one gather this knowledge of the code.
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The code can be found here:
http://www.waspa.org.za/code/codeconduct.shtml
Section 5 deals with commercial communications.

Some key clauses:

5.2.1. Any direct marketing message is considered unsolicited (and hence spam) unless:

a) the recipient has requested the message;
b) the message recipient has a prior commercial relationship with the message originator and has been given a reasonable opportunity to object to direct marketing communications;
(i) at the time when the information was collected; and
(ii) on the occasion of each communication with the recipient; or​
c) the organisation supplying the originator with the recipient's contact information has the recipient's explicit consent to do so.​


5.1.10. Upon request of the recipient of a direct marketing message, the message originator must, within a reasonable period of time, identify the source from which the recipient's personal information was obtained, and provide proof that the organisation supplying the originator with the recipient's contact information has the recipient's explicit consent to do so.

5.3.1. Members will not send or promote the sending of spam and will take reasonable measures to ensure that their facilities are not used by others for this purpose.
 
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