ott platforms whatsapp and facebook mobile messaging app now covers over 2 billion users

How the OOT (over the top)mobile app messaging numbers stalk up

The power of Facebook  and whatsapp which is among one of its acquisitions has not given it unprecedented clout among OTT mobile messaging services. Whatsapp and Facebook messenngers app have a  combined  users of more than 2 billion mobile  messaging users as of March,2017.According to statista the second biggest app based mobile messaging platform is QQMobile with 877 million estimated users,followed by  Wechat with 846 million users. Others include Skype,Viber,Line,BlackBerry Messengers,Telegram and Kakaotalk

a2p and p2a enterprise mobile messaging to exceed 1.7 billion in 2017

APPLICATION TO PERSON AND PERSON TO APPLICATION MOBILE MESSAGING TO EXCEED 1.73 BILLION IN 2017 

 According to Statista, application to person and person , and person to application mobile messaging is set to increase to 1.73billion by the end of 2017.Data from statista shows that the A2p and P2A mobile messaging market grew from 1.43 billion to 1.68 million in 2016. In 2018 the number of messages were estimated to reach 1.76 billion .Meanwhile the forecast for mobile messaging traffic worldwide is estimated to stand at 28.2trillion in 2017

everything you wanted to decode about sms aggregators

Decoding the Role of An SMS aggregator :

An SMS Aggregator aggregates SMS from operators and distributes ahead in retail or wholesale market. An Aggregator of SMS uses multiple SMS Gateway tie-ups for SMS routing and relays the text messages using various routing methods 

WHAT EXACTLY DO SMS AGGREGATORS DO:SMS Aggregators connect the application providers to the carriers. ( Application providers  literally provide the software application (the actual system you use to send the messages to subscribers).). SMS Aggregators meanwhile act as a gateway to enforce the compliance regulations set forth by the CTIA and individual carriers. They act as a gateway to send and receive messages and content like ringtones. They also offer a premium SMS gateway so marketers can make money with text messaging. Aggregators charge a per-message fee if the traffic is non-premium, or take a share of your content revenue if you are using premium SMS. 

All SMS traffic must go through an approved aggregator in order to reach the carrier networks. Aggregators also help to get your short code provisioned. 

Why do SMS Aggregators exist when SMS providers can send and receive short code messages directly with the wireless carriers. 

There's actually two reasons why it's not practical for application providers to work directly with wireless carriers and send and receive their text messages 

1)First each country has thousands of application providers, so if each application provider worked directly with the wireless carriers, this would put a significant amount of work on each wireless carrier. Not only would each application provider require their own contract with the wireless carriers, but the wireless carriers would have to onboard and support each application provider individually. The wireless carriers just don't have the infrastructure or resources to provide these services to each application provider individually. 

2)The second reason that application providers don't work directly with wireless carriers, is that the majority of application providers don't have the infrastructure or resources to do so. If an application provider were to connect directly to each wireless carrier, that would require contracts with over 30 wireless carriers, and would require the application provider to have the infrastructure and resources to build 30-plus connections. The primary job of an SMS aggregator is to build and maintain all the relationships with the wireless carriers, and provide one contract and one connection to each application provider. 

What are Tier 1 & Tier 2 SMS Aggregators 

There are differences though between SMS aggregators, and the main differences are whether an SMS aggregator is a tier 1 SMS aggregator, or a tier 2 SMS aggregator.

 To be classified as a tier 1 SMS aggregator, they must have both SMS & MMS capabilities, and must have direct connections (SMPP) to at least 4 of the 5 major wireless carriers, which include AT&T, Sprint/NEXTEL, T-Mobile USA, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon Wireless. 

 To be classified as a tier 2 SMS aggregator, they may only have SMS capabilities, and must have direct connections (SMPP) to at least 3 of the 5 major wireless carriers, which include AT&T, Sprint/NEXTEL, T-Mobile USA, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon Wireless.

how public utility companies in UK are using mobile enterprise messaging

How Public Utility Companies are using the power of  Enterprise Mobile Communications

More and more consumers are realizing that they can get a better deal on their utility costs by shopping around and seeking the best deals or special offers. This is reflected by the number of consumers that have chosen to opt-in to receive regular communications from utility companies; which really emphasises the need for businesses in the utility industry to invest in this variety of marketing. 

Public  Utility companies like natural gas, electricity, along with Telephone companies have understood the importance of mobile messaging services. From notification to consumers on the bill, last payment date.. to intimation of outages. Public utilities companies have been one of the biggest sector to adopt and embrace the power of enterprise mobile messaging

 The above  infographic published by textlocal shows how public utility companies are using the power of mobile messaging

15 awesome and outrageous facts about text messaging the united states

Texting is the most widely-used and frequently used app on a smartphone, with 97% of Americans using it at least once a day. (Pew Internet)

People worldwide will send 8.3 trillion text messages in just this year alone. That’s almost 23 billion messages per day, or almost 16 million messages per minute. (Portio Research)

Over 6 billion text messages are sent in the U.S. each day. (Forrester)Text messages are read on average in under five seconds. (SlickText)

Over 80% of American adults text, making it the most common cell phone activity. (Pew Internet)

Text messages have a 98% open rate, while email has only a 20% open rate. (Mobile Marketing Watch) Text messaging has a 45% response rate, while email only has a 6% response rate. (Velocify)

Texting takes up 14.1% of cell phone users’ time. (Nielsen) 90% of all text messages are read in under 3 minutes. (Connect Mogul)

Over 75% of phones worldwide (4.5 billion) are text-enabled (DuoCall Communications)  while 96% of smartphone users text. (Acision)

Americans sent 69,000 texts every second (CTIA)

The average adult spends a total of 23 hours a week texting (USA Today)

The average Millennial exchanges an average of 67 text messages per day (Business Insider) On average, Americans exchange twice as many texts as they do calls (Nielsen)

 Only 43% of smartphone owners use their phone to make calls, but over 70% of smartphone users text (CTIA)

There are gender differences in texting in US . In American women text 14% more than men. (Nielsen)

source:via

a2p messaging market set to exceed $58.75 billion by 2020.

Application to Person, or A2P, messaging refers to the  one-way SMS to which a application provider sends to a individual. For example  A2P messaging includes but is not limited to marketing messages, appointment reminders, notifications , banking transaction summary and pin codes.

In A2P messaging the recipients are not expected to reply back A2P messages can be subject to local country regulations (e.g. France and India). These restrictions can have delivery implications that customers should be aware of, such as message filtering by recipient carriers or delayed message delivery. 

According to the Mobile intelligence firm, Mobilesquared, the A2P messaging market was worth $12.88 billion in 2015 and will rise to $58.75 billion in 2020. 

Another Analyst firm Statista indicates that the volume of A2P messages was 1,625 billion in 2015, and will rise to 1,762 billion by 2018.

The same report also forecasts that the rollout of more next-generation SMS revenue assurance platforms will see grey-route messages drop from 65 per cent of total A2P global traffic in 2015 to 19 per cent by 2020. 

• According to MEF’s mobile messaging report, 65 per cent of consumers communicate with businesses on chat apps; increasing to 76 per cent globally via SMS.
  
• Moreover, 1 in 3 users have interacted with a financial services company via mobile messaging ( A2P messaging ) with authentication acting as a key driver – 30 per cent of consumers worldwide have confirmed passwords via text. 

• Globally, the banking and financial services and retail sectors are set to be major verticals and contributing more than 40 per cent of market share for A2P SMS market growth.
  
• According to the recently pubished  Telefonica’s Text Economy Report , It forecasts that banks, retailers and OTT providers themselves will account for 60 per cent of global A2P messaging traffic by 2017.
  

mobile app messaging vs short messaging service

How Mobile Messaging Apps have exceeded short messaging services

The Rise of OOT Mobile Messaging

Two types of mobile messaging services are battling for users’ thumbs and wallets: mobile instant messaging (MIM) and traditional text messaging (short messaging service or SMS). In 2014, MIM will win the battle for volume, generating over double the number of messages, but global revenues from SMS should be upwards of 50 times higher.As of 2015 Mobile phone messaging apps has been used by more than 1.4 billion consumers up 31.6% - as compared to 2014, according to a recent report from eMarketerWorldwide, that means 75% of smartphone users will use an over-the-top (OTT) mobile messaging app at least once a month in 2015

Deloitte predicts that MIM( Mobile Instant Messaging ) services will carry in excess of 50 billion messages per day this year, compared with 21 billion messages per day sent via SMS

The growth in popularity of messaging apps is projected to continue, as eMarketer predicts that by 2018, the number of mobile messaging app users worldwide will reach 2 billion and represent 80% of smartphone users.

 SMS was once the only way a mobile phone user could send a message to another person’s mobile phone. That changed with the arrival of mobile broadband and MIM apps offered by third-party providers, including startups like Line, WeChat, and WhatsApp. These services let users send messages from their smartphones via fixed or mobile broadband (an approach also known as “over the top,” or OTT). Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp for $19 billion has drawn the business community’s attention to a fact that many teenagers and other users already knew: MIM services are rapidly gaining popularity as an alternative to SMS, but also as a substitute for email, social networks, PC-based instant messaging, phone calls and face-to-face conversations.

There is a simple reason for the vast gulf between revenues for SMS and MIM. “Users often incur tariffs for SMS services (up to 10 cents per message when charged individually, and up to 50 cents when roaming), or else part of most user’s monthly subscription includes a quantity or unlimited text messages. In contrast, the median cost of MIM services is typically zero.

Meanwhile Mobile Instant Messaging surging popularity has already extending into the workplace, where growing numbers of employees are informally using it. CIOs will also need to ensure that security and privacy protections are in place if employees use third-party MIM apps.

vectramind sms solutions for educational institutes

list of mobile messaging aggregators in united arab emirates

List of mobile messaging companies in United Arab Emirates

List of  Enterprise Mobile Messaging companies in UAE

1)Mgage

2)SmartSms

3)RouteMobile

4)clxcommunications.com

5)zen.ae

6)nexmo

7)mBlox

8)Infobip

9)tobeprecise.com

10)Vectramind

vectramind's enterprise messaging system " synapse"

how middle east and uae are seeing a mobile app explosion

An insatiable appetite for mobile apps among the Middle East and  UAE’s tech savvy millennials is fuelling the growth of UAE technology start-ups,

Middle east market is we are witnessing now is a lifestyle evolution, one in which errands are transforming into services, all with the help of mobile apps.And in the Middle East and  UAE, where app developers are widely available, and entrepreneurship is encouraged, this technology is creating fertile ground for the country’s digital innovators. Many are already reaping the benefits, and many more will follow.”

Founded in 2011 and licensed by Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic,
WedTeb is a leading location-based health and wellness app that targets health-conscious Arabic speakers 

According to local app developer, Flagship Projects, the UAE has captured 60 percent of the Middle East’s smartphone mobile apps business. The cost of app development largely depends on each app’s individual technical and design requirements, however an article on OS X Daily about iPhone development costs reported that the development cost range for “small apps” ranges between US$ 3,000 to US$ 8,000, and that “more complex or recognised brand apps” can cost between US$ 50,000 to US$ 150,000. Nevertheless, other resources quote even higher prices.

Often dubbed as the Amazon of Middle East, Souq.com is the largest e-commerce platform in the Arab world.

Recent report from Accenture indicated that digital entrepreneurs and tech start-ups have the potential to contribute significantly to the UAE’s economy. Figures from the consultancy show that digital transformation, or optimising the use of digital skills and technologies, can add nearly US$ 14 billion (AED 51.4 billion) to the country’s GDP.

Numerous UAE-based tech start-ups have already shown early signs of success, such as Careem, Fetchr!, and ReserveOut. Still, dozens of other innovative UAE-based start-up apps are making a strong presence in the market, from on-demand laundry service provider, Washmen, and grocery delivery app, InstaShop, to numerous online food delivery platforms, such as Talabat, Eat Easily, and Food on Click.

 Anghami is the Spotify of Middle East,  the region's first legal music streaming service that lets users play Arabic

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi is the first bank in the region to provide customers with Ripple’s technology, joining a growing list of world companies, such as Santander, Standard Chartered and UniCredit. According to the World Bank Annual Report 2016, the UAE was the fourth biggest remittance-sending country in the world, accounting for over $19bin (AED70bn) in transactions. Africa, the Middle East and Latin America will be the fastest- growing regions in the next four years. There are many opportunities for new apps, mobile payments and mobile money services. Asia, notably, will continue to play the number one role in the global apps market – accounting for more than 50 per cent of consumers’ spending. ”