There is a new service from Apple and it’s free. The iMessenger service actually allows users to send text messages, photos and video right from their iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The service is catching on and in the meantime could spell trouble for the revenue that wireless carriers depend on. The new iMessenger is available on the new iPhone iOS 5, which was released recently. The new program actually takes your message and translates it like an email, which is then sent to your friend over the internet, data network or a Wi-Fi connection. This process costs the user nothing and could potentially take a lot of money away from wireless carriers.
Wireless carriers make a lot of money each year from the texting services they provide. Verizon Wireless claims that about 12 percent of their annual revenue comes from text messaging alone. The entire industry sees about 2 trillion texts sent every year and the annual revenue is somewhere in the $21 billion range. That is estimated to go up another $2 billion over the next full year. The text message is an easy markup for a wireless company as a text only costs them way less than one penny, but they might charge the customer 10 to 20 cents.
If a user would send a text message with the iMessenger turned on, it would appear as a blue chat bubble to the recipient and wouldn’t cost either one anything on their texting plan. When the text is sent via non-iPhone smartphone, the bubble is green when it shows up on your screen. Because Apple is essentially the first OS developer to offer this, you can expect all the others to follow. The iMessage system only works with Apple related devices and because of that, Apple could see a small uptick in users switching to the iPhone. Some companies are preparing for the day when they make less money per customer on a wireless plan.
In the meantime, you might be pushed into an unlimited texting plan even if you are not a heavy texter. With the iPhone, Apple is taking any and all precautions in order to keep their customer base large and more loyal to the Apple brand of smartphones and tablets.
