<p>Apps such as iMessage and WhatsApp were used to send around 19bn messages a day in 2012. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images</p><p>Text messaging has been eclipsed by messages sent using data services such as Apple's iMessage, BlackBerry Messenger and WhatsApp, according to data from the consultancy Informa.</p><p>The shift could significantly erode revenues for mobile networks, which last year missed out on $25bn (16.1bn) of revenue from texting due to "over the top" (OTT) apps, which will rise this year to $34bn, says Ovum, an Informa subsidiary.</p><p>Informa reckons that by the end of the year, text messages could be outstripped two to one by the number of OTT messages sent "over the top" of the standard chargeable methods of SMS by using data connections.</p><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/apr/29/app-messaging-damages-mobile-text-revenues">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2013/04/29/chat-app-messaging-has-finally-overtaken-sms-heres-why-that-could-be-a-bad-thing/">Chat app messaging has finally overtaken SMS here&#039;s why that could be a ...</a> (VentureBeat)</p><p><a href="http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2013/04/29/free-mobile-messaging-apps-will-be-the-death-of-sms-eventually/">Free Mobile Messaging Apps Are Very, Very Slowly Killing SMS - The Next Web</a> (The Next Web)</p><p><a href="http://9to5mac.com/2013/04/29/sms-messaging-overtaken-by-chat-app-traffic-but-life-left-in-the-old-dog-yet/">SMS messaging overtaken by chat app traffic but life left in the old dog yet</a> (9 to 5 Mac)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dDVhVE-9sCZC-NM5xbZhhpl-uLelM&ned=us">61 additional articles.</a></p>