Text & Beyond : Issues in the Mobile Marketplace

Mobile devices, once associated only with voice telephone service, have become the launching pads for new data-driven technologies and services. Today, consumers use their mobile devices for myriad purposes including "chatting" through text messaging, taking pictures, browsing the Web, making purchases, listening to music, viewing videos, playing games across cyberspace, and keeping track of friends and relatives. This book addressed the mobile marketplace in the U.S., including the contours of the mobile market place and factors affecting the adoption of new mobile applications. Furthermore, in November 2001, wireless service providers began to connect their networks for text messaging, allowing subscribers on different networks to exchange text messages. Since then, the number of text messages in the U.S. has grown to over 48 billion messages every month. In this book, the discussion of the current mobile market in the U.S. was focused on three general areas: 1) text messaging; 2) ringtones and ringbacks; and 3)Internet access, mobile television, and new and emerging services.