Much has been made of the long-term future of the text message, in light of its 20th birthday. Some have suggested that the service is dwindling in popularity and effectiveness as new communication methods become available. Others maintain that texting is going to stick around for a long time. We are of the opinion of the latter, and as time goes on, more people are starting to come around to that line of thinking.
A recent article in Digital Trends examines the rise of SMS competitors and squares them off against text messaging. While many have been addressed in this blog such as Facebook Chat and other social media outlets, one that is gaining more steam by the day is iMessage. This is a service offered by Apple that integrates with the iPhone, iPad Touch, iPad and, most recently, the Mac. Users can use the SMS application to send iMessages and conversations can start on one device and continue on another.
The rise of the iPhone has fueled iMessage's popularity. As Apple slowly takes control of the consumer electronics market, more people will be using the service to converse with their family and friends.
"It's hard to ignore services such as Apple's iMessage, which continues to grow rapidly," writes Joshua Sherman, the author of the article. "iMessage alone is sending an impressive 1 billion text messages a month among 140 million users – a noticeable dent on the 70 billion traditional text messages sent."
But there's a flaw to that argument. Despite Apple's popularity, it will never have 100 percent control over the mobile market. In fact, Android phones still lead in market share and Microsoft's latest Windows Phones are growing in popularity. Providing a quick, software-exclusive communication application won't fuel market share. Blackberry Messenger (BBM) didn't make Research in Motion untouchable and iMessage won't make Apple a be-all and end-all mobile technology provider.
Text message marketing professionals can't afford to cut off a chunk of their potential customer base. Sending messages exclusively to iPhone users will do just that. Traditional text messaging is not carrier specific and it isn't software specific. That's why SMS services will always have a place in the digital marketer's repertoire.
Swift SMS Gateway offers the tools needed to launch effective text message marketing campaigns.
