It is human nature to look for the next best thing. Something flashier, something shinier. Something that better grabs people’s attention. And given people’s attention is a huge battleground with social media, email, mobile gaming and so much more fighting to get access to people, it’s difficult to know what REALLY works when it comes to Mobile Engagement. People have been doing that with SMS for a long time. A very long time. What will succeed SMS?
First came MMS. That did not exactly set the world alight. Now we have RCS. RCS has been around for years but only now is it starting to become real. RCS is fabulous for specific use cases but we do not see it replacing SMS in its entirety anytime in the near future. SMS as we know it will be around for a few more years to come.
Today is SMS’ 27th birthday and we for one salute a mobile channel that quietly gets on with what it does. It doesn’t shout about what it does. It doesn’t scream for attention. It, however, has caught the imagination of the world for one simple reason: it works. We’ll be having a slice of chocolate cake in its honour and you should too. Happy Birthday, SMS!