2008 Forecast: over 2 Trillion SMS in 2008: mobile advertising needed for further growth

2.3 trillion SMS will be sent in major markets worldwide in 2008, Gartner predicts. That’s up nearly 20 percent from 2007, while messaging revenues will grow about 16 percent to $60.2 billion.

• North America will see significant growth, with Gartner saying more than 300 billion messages will be sent in 2008, up from a predicted 189 billion this year.
• In Western Europe, though, growth is slowing, and the firm says that person-to-person SMS revenues there may peak to 215 billion in 2008, thanks to price cuts and message bundles.
• Asia/Pacific and Japan are the biggest consumers of mobile messaging, an estimated 1.5 trillion in 2007.

Gartner concludes that operators should look to social-networking services to drive traffic, as well as mobile search and mobile advertising. Important statement from Gartner in favor for Mobiya’s business: "most carriers are poorly placed to support the end-to-end campaign management and reporting requirements of media buyers and advertisers." This is probably a position for Mobiya and its Mobiya System 1 to drive mobile ads into the Trillions of SMS messages.