RIP SMS
I wrote a blog last Christmas “SMS is dead, long live IM” where I lamented the death of SMS, I really believed over the next few years that SMS would come under intense pressure from a number of sources like KIK, Ping Chat and many others. All of these have now been completly overtaken by Apple’s iMessage.
Not even one week after the release of IOS 5 I have received iMessage’s from both my sons iPod’s,they love this as it costs them nothing, plenty of messages backwards and forwards between friends Ipad’s and hundreds of iMessage’s from local and global friends, on my tests so far using MAXROAM I think you can have 250 messages for 1 MB of data and with carriers like Meteor charging 2c per MB for local usage in Ireland, well, thats a lot of messages.
The real key difference on the iPhone that has been upgraded to IOS 5 is the user doesn’t even have to think about it, the operating system does all the hard work, it knows that my contact is a fellow IOS5 user and sends the SMS using iMessage, this is huge, no thinking just transfer my message using the best method possible.
Just as a final tip, all iMessage’s will show up in blue in your iPhone.
Happy texting or not 
Interesting so by creating the service Apple are effectively saying get your friends to use iMessage and you can “text” for free ( similar to the blackberry service which I only heard of due to the riots)
Wonder how much this is going to piss off the mobile phone operators?
i dont think you need an i anything app, all my friends just send emails from their phone.The fact that an app is free is irrelevant these days.
Dean
6.1 trillion SMS were sent in 2010, I think that’s a pretty big market segment, maybe its not your friends segment but it is huge.
@PatPhelan sure but how many of them were user to user and not B2C,App2C etc.My point is worrying about coverage/utilisation rates of iChat isn’t really that important.
Twitter: Popple3
17th October, 2011 at 10:50 pm
The problem with iMessage though is that it’s iOS only. If I could ditch SMS off my plan to save some money I would, but I’m on Android, some people are on iOS, some people just aren’t always connected to the internet.
In my opinion, the only way SMS will die (well, “die”. Let’s face it, it’s not gonna die) is if there’s something like iMessage on every OS, that comes by default and works cross platform – a pipe dream really…
I half agree with Dean Collins, in so far as with data plans being standard now on all phone packages and with data being the main selling point on most contracts I think people are just using whatever is the most convenient app on their phone that they know the other person can receive. For instance you can even see how people now communicate on twitter, its more personal (SMS-like) and people can DM each other. Also been using whatsapp for over a year now and think it’s a great addition to anyones smartphone. Send and receive text and media to all contacts who have the ap, and I have seen my contact list in whatsapp quadruple in size since I installed it. Even my dad is using it, it is that easy.
I didn’t know how imessage integrated so that is handy the way it will automatically send as the best medium, pretty handy but until there is a solid full cross platform programme such as iMessage or Whatsapp on all smartphone handsets I don’t think SMS will die. I think MMS has died with the introduction of email and picture sharing on handsets.
Twitter: stephenbeynon
18th October, 2011 at 8:33 pm
The key point I think Pat is making about iMessage and the mobile operators is that you can’t/don’t decide whether to send a text or to send an im any longer, Apple does that for you. At a stroke, Apple has “stolen” a big chunk of the SMS business in markets with high iPhone penetration and high paid for SMS%. Big shock to the system but not massive impact in Ireland as so much SMS is already free. Long term though, it will reduce perceived value of SMS in high end bundles.
My company has been using Skype IM and Yahoo IM for years, SMS has been a ‘last resort’ and both of the these IM’s are cross platform. Only if someone like Fring or someone else connecting to iMessage will make iMessage the dominant IM.
Twitter: paulsavage
19th October, 2011 at 9:13 am
on a topic that’s close to your heart Pat, roaming.
What happens in the case that you are sending the SMS/iMessage to someone who is not on the data at that point, will it just send an SMS ? Or will it wait to try to send it via the internets and if that fails it will send an SMS ? The product seems a little unclear to me.
I just wonder, as the likelihood that I’m on data while travelling is lower than when I’m at home.
@paulsavage
Thanks for the comment Paul
IOS decides how to send it, if the receiver is on a non IOS 5 device it sends it via normal SMS channels, I reckon 250 messages per MB so it also helps with your roaming
Twitter: paulsavage
19th October, 2011 at 9:41 am
sorry I wasn’t clear
I’m just wondering how delivery would work to an iOS5 device that’s not currently connected on data. One way this could be check is with some sort of a ping, or Apple checking when they last sent a push notification to the device.
If someone is abroad, and doesn’t have data connectivity on (and hasn’t for a period of time), will the iMessage be translated to an SMS in this case ? And then resent ? Would this cause delays in SMS/iMessage delivery.
Also I wonder how iMessage fairs out when people move their SIM from an iOS5 device to a non iOS5 device, does it check it on an ongoing basis ?
Aside : My pet peeve with SMS’s is the fact that that they can’t be easily transferred between phones. i.e. they are not sent back to the cloud once they come to you.
Actually was talking about this the other day, now with your top smart phones (Galaxy S2 or iphone) they no longer give you the delivery confirmation that old(er) phones used to. I’m sure some Nokia smartphones still do this. But with these handsets no longer offering delivery reports on SMS the likes of iMessage and WhatsApp give you a notification that the message is delivered and (in Whatsapp) read by the recipient. Not a massive deal but people do like to know that the message was received / read still. If you had a choice straight up and it wasn’t a hassle to send a message either / or some people would send it using the method that ensures that it delivered.