Enterprises and financial institutions continue to show growing interest in mobile messaging. In 2008, the total number of mobile messages delivered rose from 129 million to 227 million, marking a major increase. The big jump in enterprise mobile messaging follows the overall rise in text messaging that VeriSign calls a fast-growing global trend.Enterprises followed the surging interest in text messaging in 2008, jumping
considerably this year as the total number of enterprise messages delivered
rose from 129 million to 227 million. Overall, according to VeriSign, combined
mobile messaging networks have delivered 153 billion total messages since the
beginning of 2008.
In addition to the explosion in enterprise messaging, VeriSign said the
overall growth in mobile messaging was primarily driven by the use of messaging
for social and political change and marketing, as evidenced by President-elect
Barack Obama's successful mobile campaign and the use of mobile messaging for
charitable donations.
"Mobile messaging isn't just a technology, it's
a behaviora cultural shift," said Charles Landry, vice president and
general manager of products and innovation for VeriSign's Messaging and Mobile
Media division. "It has become an instrument of social and political
change, philanthropy, and, to a growing extent, a great business practice for
reaching out to customers."
According to Landry, as SMS (Short Message Service) continues to mature into
the preferred medium for mobile banking, VeriSign's mobile banking platform has
seen a 35 percent increase in messaging traffic from the second to the third
quarter of 2008.
VeriSign said application-to-person and peer-to-peer communications such as
enterprise messages sent to mobile users, news alerts, ring tones and
promotional video clips also rose sharply in the third quarter, edging close to
a 10 percent increase.
In addition, law enforcement organizations continue to
promote text messaging programs as a way for the public to more easily report
crimes.