Several carriers are jumping on the short messaging bandwagon, hoping the latest trend will catch on in the US as it has in Europe and elsewhere.
"The two-way messaging phenom is probably the biggest thing to hit the States since the Beatles and the Rolling Stones" according to officials at AT&T Wireless Services.
With such obvious faith in the power of pushing data messages through wireless phones, two major carriers -- AT&T Wireless and Sprint -- have jumped on board with new SMS (Short Message Service) two-way messaging.
Part of the carriers' optimism stems from the belief that two-way messaging has the potential to be a hit in the corporate world. Like email, SMS transmissions can be sent to groups, and they're less intrusive than phone calls.
AT&T Wireless last week started offering SMS that lets subscribers send and receive short text messages from their wireless phones, either directly to a PC email address or to a wireless phone via the phone number.
While AT&T Wireless and Sprint aren't the first to offer SMS in the United States, they'll take the technology nationwide.
All the rage in Europe and Asia
SMS has been hot for several years in Europe, where an estimated 9 billion SMS messages were sent in August alone. It is also popular in Asia and Australia.
"It hasn't been a craze in the US thus far," said Danielle Perry, a spokeswoman for AT&T Wireless. "We don't have that mentality yet, but we probably will very soon."
