Definition :
The definition of text messaging in Wikipedia can be found at : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_messaging this states: Short Message Service (SMS) is a service available on most digital mobile phones (and other mobile devices, e.g. a Pocket PC, or even desktop computers) that permits the sending of short messages (also known as text messages, or more colloquially SMS's, texts or even txts) between mobile phones, other handheld devices and even landline telephones.

There are 2.2 billion GSM cell phones, and 3 billion mobile devices in use in the world in February 2007.

How Many Text Messages are Sent Annually?
8 billion text messages are sent in the USA each month, and 4.5 billion in the UK.

What are Text Messages Used For?
Text messages are used for two things :
Personal communications, including leisure and entertainment. Typically this is handset to handset, or an interaction with a commercial entertainment service, e.g. TV voting.

Business use, including Tech alerts, Internal Operations notices, Management information, Emergency planning and operations, Field force management and customer service. Text messages are also used by some organizations for marketing purposes, although this is not an area that ITextGlobe is involved in.

What is Text Messaging?
Text messaging is the process of delivering a message that displays on the screen of a mobile phone, much like an email displays a communication on the screen of a computer. Text messages can be composed on a mobile phone and sent to any other mobile phone by addressing it to the mobile phone number of the person you wish to send the message to.

This method of sending messages is sometimes referred to as peer to peer, p2p or Mobile Originated (MO) Alternatively, a text message can be composed on a computer, and submitted to a service provider who will forward the message onto the mobile phone network, for delivery to the mobile phone you choose to send the message to. This method is often referred to as Mobile Terminated, or MT.

Approximately 7 billion messages are sent each month to US cell phones, and 4 billion a month between UK cell phones. Approximately 90% of this is phone to phone, and 10% is computer to phone.

What can Text Messaging do for my Business?
A growing percentage of employees work outside the traditional office environment, or work away from their desks. Whether a senior manager is visiting a customer, a nurse working on a ward, or an IT engineer fixing a computer in another building, people spend long periods away from their desk, their computer and their email accounts. What they will have with them at all times is their mobile phone.

The benefit that text messaging brings to the business environment is the ability to communicate with people who are mobile, any time, and virtually any place. 1.7 billion people have cell phones, more than any other electronic device. This is faster than email, faster than calling, and more effective than leaving voicemail.

Text messaging allows a business to deliver new instructions, new information, safety alerts, and performance stats to staff.