SMS ahead of email

The lower cost of handphones and lower barrier on ease of use, to send a SMS is driving usage. The other point to note is that a phone always remains with you, unlike a PC or even a mobile laptop.

A report from IHT quotes, Text messaging among adults in Britain, France and Germany is more widespread than e-mail, a survey found. More than 40 percent of people aged 15 or older in the three countries send short messages on cell phones, while 30 percent use computer e-mail, according to the research firm Gartner Inc. About 62 percent of adults in the countries own a mobile phone, the survey found. “Growth in Internet use among adults has virtually stopped,” said Adam Daum, chief analyst at GartnerG2. “But mobile use is still growing and SMS is growing even faster.”

Email is the killer application on the internet, it will be interesting to predict which will win over time, your email address or your mobile phone number.