Actual business thread...

[The Other Steve]

SMS is quite big here in Australia - even in a town as small as this one 50k people you will often see people in the street, in cafes and even on the beach sending text messages.

And it's not just limited to young people - you will see quite a few older people sending messages too.

Businesses use it as well - my daughter is in IT and the company she worked for used it to send alerts if something went wrong when the IT staff was off duty. She even used it to start the daily back up process when she was holidaying with us.

The data centre was two states away and although the backup was supposed to start automatically it often didn't. She would get an SMS alert - respond to it by dialing another number and waiting till she got an automated response and then hang up and the back up would begin.

[aeon]

Originally Posted by The Other Steve

SMS is quite big here in Australia

These dorks obviously haven't seen a fresh piece of pussy in years. Chicks are obsessed with text messaging and I hate it for that reason alone. Whoever the absolute fucking idiot it was that decided to give women the ability to write fuckin novella's with a phone should be shot.

It’s a great idea for marketing tho...we just need to prohibit women from being able to use it.

[Peaches]

Originally Posted by aeon

Whoever the absolute fucking idiot it was that decided to give women the ability to write fuckin novella's with a phone should be shot.

I resemble that remark

[Dravyk]

Ok, serious question for "the rest of the world" outside of North America ...

SMS -- Why?

In the US we just phone the other person on our cells and talk. Sometimes we use the walkie-talkie feature.

Why text when you can talk?

Is it possible -- and I do not know, that's why I am asking -- that the US phone prices are cheaper than elsewhere?

Just as Other Steve said people texting everywhere. You walk down the street here and everyone is walking down the pavement with a cell to their ear. Get on a bus and there's usually three people on it talking. Hell, if I have to wait at the pharmacy 15 minutes for a prescription pickup I usually end up having a chat.

[JR]

Originally Posted by Dravyk

Ok, serious question for "the rest of the world" outside of North America ...

SMS -- Why?

In the US we just phone the other person on our cells and talk. Sometimes we use the walkie-talkie feature.

Why text when you can talk?

Is it possible -- and I do not know, that's why I am asking -- that the US phone prices are cheaper than elsewhere?

Just as Other Steve said people texting everywhere. You walk down the street here and everyone is walking down the pavement with a cell to their ear. Get on a bus and there's usually three people on it talking. Hell, if I have to wait at the pharmacy 15 minutes for a prescription pickup I usually end up having a chat.

there is no "walkie talkie" feature in the rest of the world. Most countries have one primary standard... GSM. in the US, you have 10 big companies with their own standards trying to dominate the market with thier own standard, which is probably a primary reason that it takes a long time for a particular technology to catch on.

The US has ALWAYS been far behind the curve in this area in both trends and technology. This has been true since mobile phones were invented... the US has lagged behind. Ring tone sites were making millions in Europe in the mid-late 90's before people in the US even heard of a ring tone. Today, you can turn on MTV in almost any european country and there are more commercials for shit like Ring tones, sms chat lines/dating and other crap than real products. In some countries, MTV or any music channel plays a video and at the bottom of the screen, there is a number to call to get the ringtone, sms to vote on the song etc etc.

SMS is cheaper usually to send a quick message and Europe does not typically have cell plans like the US where you can get a gazillion minutes for almost nothing. and SMS message usually costs a fixed amount like .05/message, whereas a quick phone call in Russia for example to say the same thing would cost a 1.00 or more - it is important to people who make very little money. if you are the typical chatty teen, that is a lot of money every month.

[JR]

also, in my case, i send SMS messages to europe all the time. sweden, spain, russia, ukraine and so on. it costs almost nothing for instant, mobile communication where i can also get an instant reply. its basically like a simplified mobile e-mail. thats why i have phones like the Treo 650 and Nokia 7280 with keyboards. its quick and cheap.