What’s wrong with SMS?

Everyone I know has unlimited SMS. Sure, it’s a small sample of data but we’re talking 100%. Yet, I just downloaded an app called “Couple” that is basically SMS messaging for couples, in an app. And Facebook has private messaging. And then there is WhatsApp, and Viber, and the 5,750 other options you get when you search “messaging” on the app store. For US consumers, where unlimited SMS is cheap, what is so wrong with SMS that we need 5 thousand other services?

The shift to asynchronous messaging is one I’ve been fascinated with ever since my wife and son started ignoring my phone calls and responding with text. This behavior was not limited to them, and it didn’t take long to realize that SMS is often just more convenient. According to ComScore, 63.7% of mobile subscribers user their phones for text. The only activity that ranked higher was making phone calls, but I believe the data is out of date and if refreshed would indicate mobile subscribers send more messages than phone calls. I’m speculating, but research from eMarketer backs this up:

Which indicates that text messaging is so easy, and so appealing, that it has completely changed behaviors and yet — appears to be so desperate for replacement that everyone from Facebook to Joe-Billy’s Super Fancy Completely Redundant Messaging App have decided to give you an alternative.

I understand the app marketplace is lousy with copycat apps. Look at the legions on Dribbble who believe they have a unique take on weather apps (and by unique I mean derivative, but with a slightly different background or font size.) Copycat apps are fine. I get it. Who doesn’t want an app in the app store. The appeal of that isn’t lost on me. What confounds me is the need to completely replicate existing, base-level phone functionality without a clear added value — and then more shocking is how these apps attract so many users.

To date, no one has invited me to WhatsApp or Textie, or any of the others. I signed up for Couple and quickly realized my wife and I don’t need a separate app for our constant SMS communicating. Either no one wants to communicate with me, or more likely, I’m just not the target demographic for these apps.

If you are, I would love to know the appeal.