<p>Some commentators on the state of the SMS messaging industry point to the death of SMS as a communications medium. This may be true for global consumer use of SMS messaging in the face of newer communication technologies but these prophecies of SMS's doom are overstated when looking how SMS continues to be integral for business messaging.</p><p>Pieter Streicher, BulkSMS.com managing director (image: BulkSMS)</p><p>Twenty-something years of person-to-person (P2P) SMS messaging has fended off its supposed demise in the face of new technology. The latest threat is said to be from third party messaging services, also known as over-the-top (OTT) messaging services, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, iMessage and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).</p><p>These services use IP-based messaging through Apps or online services instead of the SS7 protocol used for SMS messaging. Indeed, at the end of April, research house Informa reported that in 2012 messages sent via third party Apps overtook SMSs: 19 billion OTT messages compared with 17.6 billion SMSs. By next year, Informa predicts that 21 billion text messages compared to 50 billion OTT messages will be sent.</p><p><a href="http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2013/06/sms-remains-the-best-channel-for-business-messaging/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.gizbot.com/apps-software/top-5-messenger-app-india-download-news-012405.html">Top 5 Messenger Applications to Download in India</a> (Gizbot)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=d3_wcdb0eAG5-eMJ8y_dqXKCxo26M&ned=us">2 additional articles.</a></p>