The first SMS message was sent in 1992 in the United Kingdom from Neil Papworth on a personal computer to Richard Jarvis on a handset. The first text message sent on a GSM phone happened the following year by an engineering student with Nokia. Since that time, there are now more than 2.4 billion SMS users in the world.



One popular misconception is that SMS is the same thing as text messaging. SMS is actually the most common form of sending text messages, but it is not texting. There are other forms of text messaging that do not use SMS. However, it is so popular that it is the standard in the industry. It is similar to someone saying that they “need a Kleenex” or “Band-aid”. They actually need a tissue or a bandage, but the brand name has become synonymous with the need. This is the same way that most people think of SMS now. It is a complement to its dominance, but it isn't necessarily accurate.

In the early days of SMS messaging, the growth was very slow. In fact, most people used it very seldom if at all. In 1995 people with SMS messaging capability only sent an SMS message about .4 times per month. Can you even imagine only texting someone once every two months? The thought of that today is almost laughable.

Over the years the use of SMS grew exponentially. By 2000, the average uses per month went up to 35. By 2006, there were millions of messages being sent every day across the world.

SMS messaging is a big business for the phone providers. The average price of a text message in the world is $.11. The phone providers also make an astounding 90% profit margin on each transaction. This makes it obvious why texting is so important to the phone companies now. They make a huge profit without having to invest much money beyond the infrastructure.

While SMS was originally meant as a part of GSM, but it is now available on many different networks. It is even a part of the newest and hottest network, 3G. While it is still a big part of the industry there are other types of texting available now. These alternatives will possibly cut into the market share of SMS in the near future, but it will take a massive change to accomplish this.

Japan has two notable alternatives in J-Phone's Skymail and NTT Docomo's Short Mail system. Emailing from phones is also becoming more prevalent which uses a standard SMTP or TCP/IP protocol. With these alternatives going forward, people will be given more choices in their texting.

SMS messaging has come a long way from its early days. It has exploded onto the scene to become a huge market all by itself.