Text Messaging Apparently On The Decline

The text message is a wonderful thing, for many of us. It allows the socially awkward among us to get in touch without having to chat awkwardly on the phone. It lets us annoy each other with stupid memes. And of course it’s the primary method of teenagers for communicating.

But unfortunately for cell carriers, who have been milking you for years making you pay for something it literally costs them nothing to send, text messaging may officially be on the decline.

That said, it’s not exactly a crashing nosedive into irrelevance, either.

According to analyst Chetan Sharma:

It might be early to say if the decline has begun or the market segment will sputter along before the decline takes place… once the market segment reaches the 70-90% penetration mark, the decline begins and we might be seeing the start of the decline in messaging revenue. The decline is primarily due to the rise in IP messaging and operators have been slow to evolve their strategies in the segment.

In other words, why use text messages, which cost money, when you could use iMessage? Or send your friend an email? Or use WiFi and use Facetime? Or use a chat service that serves the same function? Or find them with… You get the point.

While the overall volume was down, it is worth noting that during one day in America, we send four billion text messages. So it may not be time to say goodbye to your text messaging plan quite yet.