Headline statistics

A summary of findings:

New devices and an ever growing variety of mobile applications have driven overall growth figures in 2008. SMS (text) growth continues to astound while multi-media messages (MMS - still pictures with text and video clips with sound) shows an increasing level of growth. Consumer awareness, the fact that nearly all phones now come ready configured to work with MMS and attractive tariff bundles from the Mobile Network Operators helps fuel this growth.

Q3 2007 analysis compared to Q3 2008

   

	Q3 2007	Q3 2008	%Change
Text Messaging (SMS) total	4,759,366,667	6,577,926,441	+38%
Picture Messaging (MMS) total	37,833,203	45,364,272	+20%

                                                                         

Text Messaging (SMS)

· On average 6.5 billion text messages sent per month

· Over 1.5 billion messages a week or almost 217 million per day

· Britons are sending on average 60 million more messages a day compared to the same period in 2007 – up by 38%

Picture and Video Messaging (MMS)

· We now send 1,495,525 picture and video messages every day

· In 2007 we sent on average 37,833,203 messages per month during Q3

· During the same period this year we sent on average 45,364,272 messages

· This is almost 250,000 more messages every day compared to last year - up by 20 percent.

Steve Reynolds, Chairman of the Mobile Data Association, said: "Our usage figures highlight the UK’s continued enthusiasm and appetite for mobile phones. The mobile landscape is constantly evolving. New mobile phones, with easy to use software, and creative tariffs from the mobile networks, are encouraging people of all ages to use more of their functionality – from music, video and pictures to email communications and now GPS and mapping on the move. The mobile phone has evolved far beyond simple voice and text messaging: it sits at the centre of our lives at home and at work."

Steve Reynolds concluded: "Due to the ever changing landscape, we are working closely with the mobile operators to provide future reports that will identify, in detail, the many different ways in which we are using our mobile phones. We’ll be looking specifically at trends in mobile Internet usage and comparing business and consumer uses. These trends are important for the whole industry to see; there remains a hunger for market data and industry intelligence. Like economic forecasting, the data provides the clues and indicators to new directions and growth areas."

Mobile Data Association advisor, Rob Bamforth, Principal Analyst at Quocirca, said: "Text messaging (SMS) remains a strong story. It has shown good growth as sending messages from mobile phones becomes an essential part of everyday life for many people.  Increasingly, messages are including pictures, sound and video as the number of multi-media messages (MMS) continues to grow.  The emergence of more generous messaging bundles offered by mobile operators supports the impetus for message sending to remain a natural and automatic way of communicating while on the move."

The UK Mobile Report – Q3 2008 statistics in full

TEXT MESSAGING					AVERAGE
	July	Aug	Sept	Monthly	Weekly	Daily
2007	4,610,139,337	4,783,313,380	4,884,745,095	4,759,399,271	1,098,322,909	156,903,273
2008	6,444,872,374	6,593,738,612	6,695,206,980	6,577,939,322	1,517,985,997	216,855,142
				Increase Q on Q	419,663,089	59,951,870
PICTURE & VIDEO MESSAGING
	July	Aug	Sept	Monthly	Weekly	Daily
2007	38,662,629	38,508,939	36,328,042	37,833,203	8,730,739	1,247,248
2008	46,071,829	45,565,890	44,455,098	45,364,272	10,468,678	1,495,525
				Increase Q on Q	1,737,939	248,277

Historical Data Analysis: http://www.text.it/mediacentre/

Terms of use: Any use or reference to these statistics must be accredited to The Mobile Data Association.