Don't let anyone tell you that SMS is dying! It's the only
common medium among the 6 billion mobile-phone users on this
planet after voice calls. They sent 8 trillion text messages
last year. Two out of three users use SMS. SMS, which in 20
years grew to become central to mobile telephony, does have
competition from instant-message apps and services such as
BlackBerry Messenger and WhatsApp. Yet in countries such as
India and China, which make up 5 billion of those 6 billion
mobile users according to World Bank data, and where cheaper
"feature-phones" dominate over smartphones, text is the
communications lifeline. or short message service, is the
world's biggest form of written computer- or mobile-based email,
and data-based mobile messaging It's been a long journey since
the first SMS text message sent in December 1992 by British
engineer Neil Papworth, then 22. He sent a "Merry Christmas"
from his computer to Richard Jarvis of Vodafone. There was no
reply option on Jarvis' phone. That came with Nokia's firs