Indiantelevision.com Team

(30 April 2008 9:30 pm)

MUMBAI: As per a survey conducted by TNS Technology, mobile instant messaging (MIM) is set to cannibalise sms (texting) and eventually email from PC.

The TNS Global Telecoms Insight (GTI) study interviewed 17,000 respondents across 30 countries and found that once mobile users adopt MIM, it will overtake other messaging tools to become the primary non-voice method of interacting.

Among those who use MIM, it is the most used feature on their phone, the study revealed. While 61 per cent use MIM daily, 55 per cent use sms daily and only 12 per cent use email on their mobile.

Instant messaging is also taking a larger share of all messaging communications. However, among MIM users, 36 out of every 100 messages sent is an instant message by their mobile, making this the dominant messaging form for these users.

The number of messages sent via sms falls dramatically among MIM users from 38 to only 23 messages per 100. Surprisingly, MIM users also use fixed email less with 21 out of every 100 messages sent via this medium, compared to 31 messages among all consumers.

TNS Global Technology MD Matthew Froggatt for TNS states, “Once a mobile phone user has access to the internet from their handset, the cost of instant messaging is next to nothing, as the only cost is a very small data transfer fee. With consumers being accustomed to instant messaging from their PC from companies like Yahoo and MSN, and more mobile operators offering unlimited use of web browsers, the take up of MIM is going to increase significantly - leaving sms and fixed email from pc behind.”

Currently 8 per cent of all mobile users globally use MIM, with the highest number of users in Hong Kong (23 per cent). However, use of MIM in China is also very high (16 per cent).

In China and other developing markets (India 15 per cent; Brazil 10 per cent), there is evidence that MIM has leapfrogged other messaging tools demonstrating consumers’ preference to this as an entry level non-voice communication tool.

TNS Technology India Technology VP Parijat Chakraborty adds, "Mobile messaging in India is very much synonymous with sms, owning to mass adoption. MIM is still not a commonly used service. However, with dropping GPRS connections, charges and innovative packages, users will soon realise the financial benefit of sending MIM, over long sms.”

Froggatt continues, “There are some notable exceptions to the ubiquity of sms messages, like the US and Japan. However, where mobile operators have profited heavily from sms, these findings present a real challenge for their businesses. Do they try and keep consumers focused on sms to maintain their revenue base, or offer consumers more choice in messaging? With increasing internet functionality on new mobile phones, and MIM’s strong mass market appeal, operators may have no choice but to promote this feature more widely.”