There is a good TV commercial currently showing on Indian TV channels. Nokia’s announcement seeks to dispel the common notion that phones are only used for talking. Various applications are displayed, including video recording, photography, MP3 music, FM radio, and of course, text messaging. Although text messaging is a huge improvement on the pager (remember that?), today it seems impossible to live without it.
For the younger generation, life is unimaginable without a mobile phone. For them it is like an extension of their hands, a useful tool to say so many things. Youngsters have come up with peculiar missed call and text message lingo by the dozens. Texting is an improved version of the old grade pass messages, especially in the classroom as SMS messages come and go. Text messages are ideal for sending people because they are stored on their phones to read when they are free. Sometimes a call may catch the recipient at an awkward moment and they may prefer to ignore it at that moment. Text messaging is possible on all mobile phones and also on some landlines.
Text messaging has proven to be a profitable source of revenue for telecommunication companies thanks to television channels. Almost every show advertises a short code (three-, four-, or five-digit number) for viewers to send text messages with their opinions. Marketing companies have used the text so extensively that courts have stepped in to restrict its use.
Sending text messages is also very convenient because this medium is very suitable for sending payment reminders, payment notices, disaster alerts, SOS calls, greetings and courtesy calls that can be transmitted in this way. Payment receipts such as utility bills, club fees, subscriptions, renewals, etc., can be sent via SMS messages.
Text messaging has proven its value in recent years as mobile phone ownership has skyrocketed to 60 million devices. In times of crisis, governments have sent urgent SMS alerts to citizens warning of floods, earthquakes, etc. Thanks to its ease of use, more people are using text messaging. The mobile phone is now seen more as an accessory of modern life than a novelty. There are now more than 120 million phones in India, of which landlines make up less than half.