The advent of the mobile Internet has not slowed the growth of SMS. If anything, SMS is fuelling the mobile Internet by providing consumers with the channel to access targeted online content.
"Accessing the mobile Internet using hyperlinks sent via SMS is the norm for delivering rich mobile content, applications or services. Evolving cellphone design and new business models have led to the convergence of these technologies," said Dr Pieter E Streicher, managing director of Bulksms.com, a wireless application service provider.
Early handsets only recognised a phone number. Then phone enhancements identified an e-mail address or Internet link in a message. Today, phones automatically highlight phone numbers, e-mail addresses and Internet links in an SMS. There have also been improvements in the handling any type of Web site as phones have their own browsers.
"In the days before the mobile Internet, if a phone was not WAP compatible then it could not display content. Now, all you need to do is click on the hyperlink within the SMS to access mobile content," said Dr Streicher.
The mobile entertainment industry has led the way in delivering music, videos and games using SMS hyperlinks. Businesses are catching on to using SMS as a cost-effective and efficient means to deliver content to mobile phone users, download applications, or initiate viral marketing campaigns. In the latter case, consumers access rich content (such as an advert) via an SMS link and send on the campaign link to their friends. The benefit to the consumer is that the link is sent at the cost of an SMS rather than an MMS.
A good example of a business model maximising on the integration of SMS and mobile Internet is Jamble, a South African social networking service. You access Jamble by sending an SMS to a shortcode. A WAP link is delivered to your phone and you click on it to open a page on the mobile Internet. This WAP page allows you to subscribe to Jamble and begin creating a network of friends, send messages or use instant chat, share photographs and video clips, or download wallpapers and tones. Thereafter, Jamble alerts you to new Jamble messages by sending an SMS with a link.
Wavescape, an online surfing portal catering for the ocean sports and tourist markets, also uses WAP to provide a surf report delivered to cellphones. The service works by sending an SMS with a keyword to a shortcode. The surf report is returned in WAP format and includes swell height, wave period, swell direction, and wind speed data. The surf report covers several coastal destinations in South Africa.
According to Dr Streicher: "The cellphone offers consumers the immediacy and convenience of mobile communications. The integration of SMS and the mobile Internet takes this a step further by providing consumers with an ever-present means of accessing mobile content, applications and data services."
The demand for mobile Internet content or applications delivered in conjunction with SMS show a trend toward increasing mobile messaging revenues. Global trends announced at the recent 3GSM Congress in Barcelona indicated that Internet revenues made up 10.4% of the combined mobile and Internet revenues in 2006. This indicates that generally cellular spend far outweighs cost of services accessed via the Internet.
The outlook for mobile revenues looks promising for South Africa. The "South African Mobile 2006" report published by the World Wireless Forum, estimated that messaging revenues in South Africa would top $810 million (R6.01 billion) in 2007, up from $453 million (R3.36 billion) in 2006. Total mobile revenues for 2007 are estimated at $8.77 billion (R65.26 billion).
Share