Free messaging mobile applications are killing SMS

Free messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Kik, Viber, WeChat and Kakao Talk are becoming so popular with users around the world that they are receiving a great part of the telecom operators’ revenues from SMS. This trend is not a surprise anymore: Nokia creates smartphones with an especially dedicated button for WhatsApp application.

According to the data of telecom and media consultancy firm Informia which has collected some information for the Financial Times show that the messaging mobile applications listed above and their analogues like Apple’s iMessage, Samsung’s ChatON, BlackBerry Messenger have overtaken SMS as the preferred and more required way to exchange text messages.

The research company informs that in 2012 year almost nineteen billion text messages were sent each day with the help of free messaging mobile applications for different mobile devices. It is also predicted that the current year this number is going to more than double to forty one billion messages each day. So it means that the mobile applications are killing SMS though the process is still very very slow.

Informia expects fifty billion messages to be sent with the help of WhatsApp, Kik and other messaging applications by 2014 year compared to only twenty one billion traditional SMS messages. However it also means that the number of SMS messages will also keep growing according to Informia. In other words it means that it may be still too early to speak about the quick death of SMS right now. It will happen one day eventually but not until the most part of the world’s population uses smartphones together with a mobile data plan from their carriers. In fact, Informia told BBC that the SMS revenue is expected to grow to $127 billion by 2016. So for now no dancing on the grave of SMS yet.

Few words about the author of the article: Karol McMill, professional copywriter publishing articles on different IT topics - software and hardware for business and entertainment, mobile applications for iPhone and Android, gadgets and widgets to improve the efficiency. Prefers Prada shoes and likes cooking with wine.

LinkedIn has launched mobile application for daily consumption

LinkedIn - the social network for professionals – has radically changed the mobile experience to attract users to a personalized stream of business content.

LinkedIn has recently released completely renewed versions of its mobile applications for iPhone and Android as part of ongoing effort to turn the social network into a rich, daily destination for consuming content and connecting with other people.

These fresh applications have a little resemblance to their former versions. But they differ in a crisp design, a reworked navigation and personalization features aimed to make LinkedIn for iPhone and Android a vehicle for rabid consumption. The mobile applications for iPhone and Android are now available for fifteen different languages.

LinkedIn’s senior product manager and mobile phone lead told CNET that the underlying design principle behind the new mobile applications is that everything users need and care about should be just single tap away. He added that they were eager to bring everything to users instead of the users having to search for information. The company has created mobile applications with a cleaner and customizable navigation menu that slides from the left-hand side of the screen. It really efficiently directs users’ attention to whatever they are interested in. it also slides out to reveal a dynamic stream experience.

Stories include status and connection updates, news, posts from the influencers that user follows, job changes etc. in case in user is a big content reader he will find more content than other users. In case if users seeks for a new job, the stream will provide more recommended jobs.

LinkedIn has done a really great job and it has done it successfully. The new mobile applications will provide users with an extremely detailed environment and will serve the 27 per cent of users who prefer using the professional service on mobile.