Faced with declining margins on basic cellular voice and text services, as well as lackluster demand for other data applications, mobile operators are now revisiting wireless messaging in an effort to build on the success of SMS.

According to Nick Ingelbrecht, research analyst at Gartner: 'Nobody could have predicted the phenomenal success of SMS, and the race is on to find its successor. Without a doubt new services are needed, but a clear leader has yet to emerge from the messaging services currently being deployed, such as mobile instant messaging (IM), video messaging, mobile e-mail and unified and integrated messaging.'

Ingelbrecht says that the main barriers to consumer adoption of new messaging services are device configuration, service set-up and usability, and that carriers will need to address these issues in their service planning. He also highlights the importance of pricing and pricing plans: 'Simple, all-inclusive pricing bundles are well worth considering, although the perceived value of the total package will usually be more important than price alone.'