Before the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Shanghai official start tomorrow, the GSMA announced a new list of mobile operators supporting a mobile industry initiative for a universal Rich Communication Services (RCS) profile worldwide. The list contains the following mobile operators: AIS, Axiata Group, Beeline, Bell Mobility, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Claro Brazil, Claro Colombia, Indosat Ooredoo, M1, Megafon, MTS, Optus, Personal Argentina, Personal Paraguay, Reliance Jio, Rogers Communications, Singtel, StarHub, Telcel Mexico, Tele2, Telefónica, Telkomsel, Telus and T-Mobile US. Those mobile operators have joined the group of MNOs supporting this initiative back in February at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

1. How SMS Marketing starts? SMS marketing starts when a mobile user sends a keyword as a message to a specific shortcode. These type of messages are called MO messages (Mobile Originated message). Here is an example: Text START to 8888 for our weekly list of special offers! The moment the system receives the message (subscription) containing the keyword, the phone number from which this message was sent automatically goes into a database and triggers an automated response – a new text message sent back to the user. This message is also called the MT message (Mobile Terminated message). In this case, the message would contain a list of all available special offers of the week.

This year’s Mobile World Congress, held in Barcelona 22-25 February, was full of innovative technologies and spectacular product launches. Among all the glitz & glamour, one of the groundbreaking moments was the one when global mobile operators, including América Móvil, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Globe Telecom, KPN, Millicom, MTN, Orange, PLAY, Smart Communications, Sprint, Telenor Group, TeliaSonera, Telstra, TIM, Turkcell, VimpelCom, Vodafone, the GSMA, and Google have announced the launch of mobile industry initiative to accelerate the availability of Rich Communication Services (RCS).

Social media has changed the world in so many ways. Communication and connecting to other people have become easier, faster and more fun so the number of active social media users have grown rapidly and we can say that today vast majority of people in “The Internet World” have at least one social networking profile.

After Facebook’s F8 Development Conference, some started speculating that some Facebook Messenger new features were designed to kill BULK SMS. But, such predictions are not entirely true. So, let’s start from the beginning first, with this year’s conference general overview. The storm has finally come down, and now we can calmly review the novelties Facebook announced on this year’s F8 Developer Conference, held at Fort Mason in San Francisco this April. As it was expected, Facebook came up with plenty of new things.

How to Create a Successful SMS Marketing Campaign? A successful SMS marketing campaign is one of the best direct marketing solutions. But, how to run an SMS marketing campaign that will worth every penny?

Flexible platform enables Enterprises international SMS reach. Today, it was announced that Yellow Mobile has chosen HORISEN AG as their SMS-Platform provider to enable Enterprise messaging services. Yellow Mobile uses direct operator connections to offer a range of messaging and communication services to local companies who require international coverage. Vice President of Yellow Mobile, José A. García, based his selection process on an exacting list of requirements including the ability to provide high-performance SMS and MNP (Mobile Number Portability) routing flexibility and provide competitive international coverage.

Mobile marketing has become the focal point of many digital marketing campaigns. Moreover, we can say that it’s taking over digital marketing. Why? Well, let’s take a look at some numbers… Statista Inc., one of the leading statistics company on the internet, has published their forecast regarding the rise of a number of mobile phones worldwide until 2018. Statistics collected and presented show the total number of unique mobile phone users will reach 5.5 billion in 2018. This number is huge, but… Already in January 2015 GSMA Intelligence and Ericsson have both reported more than 7 billion active mobile subscription, which is almost as equal as the total human population!

Mobile usage has grown significantly in recent years. With the ever-growing importance of mobile devices in our lives, smartphones have become an extension of ourselves. Smartphones are the most used devices in the world today. Smartphones have become small, pocketable personal computers rather than just phones, and are used for everything, from regular everyday communication to entertainment, searching and buying.

If you’re wondering what the easiest and best way to effectuate successful SMS marketing (using Bulk SMS) is, this text will provide you with an answer. Let’s begin this story by going back to 2008, when Mary Meeker, a famous Internet analyst, boldly predicted that by 2014 mobile Internet use will overtake desktop Internet usage globally. Now, from a 2015 perspective, we can only agree and say: she was right! Smartphones and mobile devices, in general, have surpassed desktop and laptop PCs in percent of internet browsing and percent of time spent with online retail. What does this suggest? It is simple. Mobile devices are becoming an enormous part of the world’s ‘Internet Future.’ Customers are now so comfortable using their smartphones as their primary shopping device that businesses must consider mobile marketing as a crucial part of their digital marketing strategies. They must even focus and prioritise investments in mobile marketing if they want to keep the pace with continuous mobile development.