LONDON, December 4 /PRNewswire/ --     A new report from Portio Research focused on mobile messaging
suggests that SMS will continue to be the cash cow of mobile data revenues
for some time to come. Traffic volumes and revenues continue to confound
predictions and are expected to keep growing throughout the global economic
downturn. Indeed the whole mobile messaging industry worth USD 130 billion in
2008 is predicted to be worth USD 224 billion by 2013, 60 percent of
non-voice service revenues. The report, 'Mobile Messaging Futures 2008 -
2013' ventures that there is nothing likely to stop continued growth of
mobile messaging in the short term, driven by a cocktail of ubiquitous SMS,
media rich MMS, enterprise based mobile email and youth conscious mobile IM.

SMS remains 'King' because there is no cheap, easy to use
alternative that will work with all phones and across all networks, it is
loved the world over. Indeed in the US market, where SMS was a comparative
slow starter, use per subscriber per month is now almost double the European
average. In China average users send over 100 messages each month whereas the
Filipinos continue to be the leading exponents with 755 messages each month.

Portio also predict a bright future for mobile email even
though Japan is the only market where consumer mobile e-mail has surpassed
the use of SMS. Email is still the most popular form of business
communication and the report suggests that mobile e-mail users worldwide will
quadruple from approximately a quarter of a billion users in 2008 to over a
billion users by the end of 2013.

The rising star in the mobile messaging constellation is
mobile instant messaging (MIM), which is still beset by the technical
problems of interoperability. Portio however predict exponential growth in
mobile IM users, surging from a worldwide total of 111 million users in 2008
to hit a massive 867 million users by the close of 2013. This massive growth
in users will be accompanied by an equally impressive 5-fold increase in
revenues from approximately USD 2.5 billion in 2008 to approximately USD 12.4
billion in 2013.

Since MMS hit the mainstream in 2004 the press and analysts
have been critical about its level of success. Back then, they wanted to MMS
reach the same value as SMS, USD $30bn, for it be considered a success;
finally in 2009 this will be a reality. MMS is growing fast and certain
countries, such as China and the United States, are becoming very big
markets. Worldwide MMS traffic of 75 billion messages in 2008 is impressive,
and the future growth looks very good in Asia, as affordable camera-equipped
handsets flood the market with China leading the way.

'Mobile Messaging Futures 2008 - 2013' provides detailed discussion of 
all mobile messaging technologies including SMS, MMS, MIM, E-mail, Videomail
and Unified Messaging as well as business models, network technology 
impacts, value chain shifts and advice for operators backed by a wealth of 
charts and statistics.

For further information or to purchase a copy of this report please send
an e-mail to: info@portioresearch.com or phone: +44-(0)1249-656964

http://www.portioresearch.com