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Will Mobile Instant Messaging Replace SMS?

7:05 am on June 30, 2006 | Category: Cell Phones, Messaging, Mobile Devices, Web Services, Wireless

Mobile communication analysts are eyeing the progress of wireless instant messaging, as an alternative to the plain text SMS messaging format.

Cell phone carriers have been heavily hyping their mobile IM offerings over the past few months, but these services are still a long way from completely replacing SMS (Short Message Service).

SMS became the dominant mobile messaging format largely because of its simplicity and universal compatibility. So far, however, cell phone providers have been unable to duplicate these conditions with their instant messaging offerings.

Partnerships have sprung up between various carriers, handset makers, and online instant messaging networks, but incompatibility between different services makes universal communication impossible.

If the online instant messaging model is to replace Short Message Service, interoperability will need to be established between rival services, so as to duplicate the simple and open nature of good old text messaging. Until then the SMS will remain the only universally accepted standard for mobile-to-mobile text communication.

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