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The first SMS is believed to have been sent in December 1992 from a personal computer (PC) to a mobile phone on the Vodafone GSM network in the United Kingdom.
The message payload is 140 bytes: either 160 7- bit characters, 140 8-bit characters, or 70 2-byte characters in languages such as Chinese, Korean, or Japanese when encoded using 2-byte UTF-16 character encoding (see Unicode). This does not include routing data and other
metadata, which is additional to the payload size.Short message services are developing very fast throughout the world. By mid-2004 texts were being sent at a rate of 500 billion messages per annum. At an average cost of 10¢ per message, this generates revenues in excess of $50bn for mobile telephony operators and represents close to 100 text messages for every person on the world. Growth has been rapid; in 2001, 250 billion SMS were sent, in 2000 just 17 billion. SMS is particularly popular in Europe, Asia and AustraliaAustralia is the sixth-largest country in the world (geographically), the only one to occupy an entire continent, and the largest in the region of Australasia. Australia includes the island of Tasmania, which is an Australian State. Its neighbouring count. Popularity has grown to a sufficient extent that the term texting (used as a verbA verb is a part of speech that usually denotes action ("bring", "read"), occurrence ("to decompose" (itself), "to glitter"), or a state of being ("exist", "live", "soak", "stand"). Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many fact meaning the act of cell phone users sending SMS text messages back and forth) has entered the common lexicon. In ChinaThis article is on the geographic and cultural entity. For other meanings, see China (disambiguation). China ( Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , Hanyu Pinyin: Zhongguo, Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo) is a country in continental East Asia with some oute, SMS is very popular, and has brought service providers large profit (18 billion SMS were sent in 2001 [1]).
It is particularly popular amongst young urbanites. In many markets, it is comparatively cheap. For example, in AustraliaAustralia is the sixth-largest country in the world (geographically), the only one to occupy an entire continent, and the largest in the region of Australasia. Australia includes the island of Tasmania, which is an Australian State. Its neighbouring count a message typically costs between AUD 0.20 and AUD 0.25 to send, compared to a voice call, which costs anywhere between AUD 0.40 and AUD 2.00 per minute.
The most frequenter texters are found in south-east Asia. In SingaporeThe Republic of Singapore ( Chinese , pinyin: Xinjiapo Gonghegu Malay Republik Singapura Tamil , Cingkappur Kudiyarasu , is an island city-state in Southeast Asia, at latitude 1°17'35"N longitude 103°51'20"E, situated on the southern tip of Malay Peninsul, hundreds of messages can be sent per month for free, after which messages cost between SGD 0.05 and SGD 0.07 each to send. The same pricing format is followed in the PhilippinesThe Republic of the Philippines is an island nation consisting of an archipelago of 7,107 islands, lying in the tropical western Pacific Ocean about 100 kilometers southeast of mainland Asia. Spain (1521-1898) and the United States (1898-1946), colonized where the average user sent 2,300 messages in 2003, making it the world's most avid texting nation.
Europe follows next behind Asia in terms of the popularity of texting. Users in Spain sent a little more than fifty messages per month in 2003. In ItalyThe Italian Republic or Italy ( Italian: Italia is a country in the south of Europe, consisting mainly of a boot-shaped peninsula together with two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea: Sicily and Sardinia. To the north, where it borders France, Switzer, Germany and the United Kingdom the figure was around 35–40 texts per month. In each of these countries the cost of sending a text varies from as little as 5c to 25c depending on the payment plan. Curiously France has not taken to texting in the same way, sending just under 20 texts per user per month. France has the same GSM technology as other European countries so the uptake is not hampered by technical restrictions. Part of the reason for the lack of uptake may be due higher prices due to weak competition in the mobile market - the key player Orange is owned by subsidized France Telecom. However some telecom analysts suggest that this factor has disipated in recent years and say that the reason may be cultural - text messaging is associated with a fast pace of life and France is more reluctant than others to dispense with its traditions.
In the US, however, the appeal of SMS is even more limited. Although a SMS usually costs only USD 0.05 (many providers also offer monthly allotments), only 13 messages were sent by the average user in 2003. The reasons for this are varied – many users have unlimited "mobile-to-mobile" minutes, high monthly minute allotments, or unlimited service. Moreover, "walkie talkie" services offer the instant connectivity of SMS service and are typically unlimited. Further the integration between competing providers and technologies necessary for cross-network texting has only been available recently. SMS is also typically an opt-in service in the United States - thus sending a message is much less a guarantee of receipt than in other countries. However the recent addition of AT&T-powered SMS voting on the television program American Idol has introduced many Americans to SMS, and usage is on the rise.
In addition to SMS votings, a different phenomenon has risen in more cell phone saturated countries. In Finland some TV-channels began "SMS Chat" which involved sending short messages to phone number, and after certain while message was shown in TV. Chats are always moderated, which prevents sending harmful material to channel. The craze soon became popular and evolved into games, first slow paced quiz and strategy games. After a while, faster paced games designed for television and SMS control have been designed. Classic cannon game and similar are quite suitable for that kind of entertainment. Games always involve registering one's nick name and after that, sending SMSs for controlling character on screen. Messages usually cost 0.5 to 0.86 euros a piece and one game requires sending dozens of messages. In December 2003 Finnish TV-channel MTV3 put on air Santa Claus -character reading aloud messages sent by SMS. Some customers were later accused of "hacking" after they discovered a way to control Santa's speech synthesizer. More recent late night attractions on same channel include "Beach Volley", in which bikini clad female hostress blocks balls "shot" with text-messages. In march 12 2004, first entirely "interactive" TV-channel "VIISI" began its operation in Finland.