Surprising as it may sound, but according MIG Research, text messaging may be losing their ground, at least in some parts of the world.
The research report showed that number of texts sent over Christmas eve in Finland fell this year. The study also cited data gathered from Finnish carrier Sonera. The figures show that Christmas Eve saw 8.5 million texts sent, down from 10.9 million texts a year back. Similarly, another Finnish mobile services provider DNA, also reported decline in text message traffic. DNA subscribers sent 5.6 million messages on this Christmas eve, while they had sent 5.9 million texts a year earlier.
Apart from Finland, Hong Kong and Australia also showed the similar downward trend. Australians sent 9 percent fewer messages this year, while Hong Kong reduced the number of texts exchanged by 14 percent. The Australian figures have been provided by Telstra and Australian Bureau of Statistics. US, though defying the trend, is also showing the signs of reduced growth rate for texts. These figures may become a cause of worry for already struggling telecom companies.
The major reason behind the fading popularity is the emergence of alternatives. Popular social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are letting the users share their moments without using text messaging services. People are also favoring use of dedicated messengers such as iMessage and BlackBerry Messenger.