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Text messages decline as app-based messenger usage soars

Published Nov 12th, 2012 8:40PM EST
Text Message Usage Declines

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It was only a few years ago that people started to call each other less and send text messages at an ever increasing rate. But according to Chetan Sharma Consulting, text messaging traffic and revenues decreased for the first time in the third 2012. The mobile market research firm says “the decline is primarily due to the rise in IP messaging and operators have been slow to evolve their strategies in the segment.” The report isn’t shocking considering how popular iMessage, WhatsApp and other messenger applications are.

Chetan Sharma Consulting’s report goes on to say that mobile data traffic growth could slow to about 80% by the end of year, voice traffic will sink to under 10% as the average consumer starts to consume more data. The research firm says most smartphone users consume about 900MB per month of data and the “overall average revenue per user slipped by $0.15 during the third quarter.”

Raymond Wong is a technology reporter with a passion for cutting-edge gadgets and clean design. His writing has appeared on DVICE, Ubergizmo, G4TV, Yahoo News, NBC blogs. You might even have seen his videos on Xbox LIVE.