A new report from Portio Research predicts a strong future for SMS, and that it will remain the most widely used messaging format for some years to come. SMS revenues are estimated at $50 billion by 2010 driven by almost 2.38 trillion messages. The report also highlights the slow but steady progress of other mobile messaging technologies, especially mobile e-mail and instant messaging. Since its launch in 2002, MMS has failed to assume the SMS mantle, hampered by interoperability issues and low handset penetration, says Portio. MMS can however be considered a commercial success with similar revenue predictions as SMS by 2010 from considerably less traffic. The report suggests that: "the industry must concentrate on increasing the use of Premium MMS as a marketing tool and a distribution channel while promoting growth of cheap peer-to-peer picture messaging. When MMS becomes cheap, simple and compelling, traffic will grow and revenue will follow".
The global smartphone market closed 2025 with a story less about recovery and more about transformation. Premium product, ecosystem lock-in, and manufacturing scale are now the forces shaping competition. For business and technology leaders, the latest IDC market study data confirms that smartphones remain a critical indicator of consumer demand, supply chain health, and AI commercialization at the edge. Smartphone Market Development Global smartphone shipments grew 2.3 percent year-over-year in Q4 2025, reaching 336.3 million units and bringing full-year volumes to 1.26 billion units — a modest 1.9 percent annual increase, according to IDC. This smartphone growth emerged despite a memory shortage crisis, tariff volatility, supply chain disruption, and macroeconomic headwinds. What stabilized demand? Two factors: sustained growth in premium devices and strong foldable momentum, combined with accelerated purchases as consumers bought ahead of anticipated price increases. Buyers weren...