Texts Continue To Rise Throughout May

May saw the nation’s penchant for text messaging flourishing, with a record number of messages sent during the month. A whopping 2.63 billion texts were transmitted, according to the Mobile Data Association (MDA), representing an increase of 20% year on year.

May also saw the highest average daily figure recorded to date, with 85 million messages being sent per day.

The MDA cites warmer summer weather and longer daylight hours for the increase, claiming that “we’re out and about keeping hold of our handsets to stay in touch and remain well-informed whilst making the most of longer days and better weather.”

The advent of summer does mean more opportunities for interaction through mobile phones, with the BBC, Teletext and Channel 4 all launching text voting and alerts systems to cover England’s 2005 cricket matches and the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

The yearly onslaught of hayfever has also been harnessed as a topic for text alerts, with Yahoo UK and Ireland teaming up with Beconase hayfever spray to help people manage their symptoms and plan their day, sending them free daily pollen forecasts via SMS.

Earlier this month saw the MDA unveil WAP usage figures for April, with the medium continuing to grow in popularity. A total of 1.76 billion page impressions viewed in the UK during April, representing an increase of 24% compared with the same period in 2004, and an average daily total of 58.9 million (see UK WAP Usage Continues To Grow).

Mobile Data Association: 01922 419600 www.mda-mobiledata.org