WirelessWatch for August 8, 2003

Half of European Marketers Using SMS

A Forrester survey has found that half of all European direct marketers now use SMS. Incredible as that rate of adoption is, however, the research firm predicted the medium will remain in growth mode for two more years, as usage increases by 50 percent and campaign spending doubles.

Conducted jointly with the Federation of European Direct Marketing, the online survey of direct marketers is the second of its kind — the first having been taken 18 months ago. Comparing results of the two polls, Forrester found that in addition to its dramatic rate of adoption, SMS has been picked up by new sectors. Whereas 94 percent of SMS marketers polled in the first study hailed from the telecom or media sectors, today their slice of the pie is only 39 percent.

Additionally, the size of firms deploying the technology is shrinking: Adopters employ 1,500 people on average, and Forrester predicts that future users of SMS will employ 1,100.



More Young U.S. Consumers Cut the Cord

[August 8, 2003] In another bit of research, the Yankee Group’s 2003 mobile user young adult survey has found that cord cutters — who have replaced their landline phones with wireless — comprise 12 percent of 18- to 24-year-old respondents in the U.S. In contrast, the Yankee Group has found fewer than four percent of adult respondents over 24 years old had abandoned their landlines.

“The mobile phone has become the essential means of communications, making the landline phone a supplemental and increasingly non-essential item, particularly among young adults and college students who are often not home and who frequently change address,” said Linda Barrabee, Yankee Group Wireless/Mobile United States senior analyst.



SMS Offers to Fill in Communication Gaps

[August 8, 2003] As mobile operators continue searching for new ways of encouraging subscribers to try out new data services, wireless application vendor Comverse is banking that its line of solutions can help carriers make money from previously untapped sources — uncompleted calls.

The latest offering from Woodbury, New York-based Comverse, a unit of Comverse Technology, “Notify Me” is a data application that hinges on Short Messaging Service text messages — which end-users pay carriers to send and receive.

Comverse envisions Notify Me coming into play when a caller dials a user who is out of range. Instead of simply never making a connection, the Notify Me service plays them a recorded message telling them to press a button to receive an SMS alert when the subscriber they were attempting to reach becomes available. The service also can be tied into voice mail systems.

Originally published on InstantMessagingPlanet.com, read the entire story here.

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