Tell that to our British friends who already did a billion messages a week in 2007 (that's 2.4 messages per day for everybody, from toddler to granny !)

Russia ? Ah, the confusion When your were responding to my post referencing 'here' with MTS I thought you were talking about Mobilna Telefonija Srbije (=MTS ), a telco 'here' in my reference frame Of course I have no bearing on the Russian MTS or services - I just know that for a <10$ montly plan (on our, Serbian MTS ) you get hundreds of free messages, so there is no real incentive for IMs (=not worth the effort).

Also, there is a huge number of SMS services people use here so there is even a bit of inertia at work (e.g. you use SMS for parking, small payments, applications, televoting and whatnot).

Crazy, crazy brits. Have probably got nation-wide carpal tunnel syndrome by now.

The thing about sms is that its sync free, you send, and the other party reply when they have time.

Ok, i have seen people drop whatever they are holding when their phone beeps about a incoming message. But unless you got a handsfree stuck in your ear 24/7, talking ties up both your and the one your talking to. Something thats not really needed when a short bit of text is all that's required (and it also allows one to save the info about when and where to meet).

But then i live in one of those nations where incoming messages are free, and tethering is part of the basic package

Well, TSO has a point. Part of the SMS nonsense might be that it's become an addiction. It's one of the primary reasons I won't get a blackberry. If I had one of those, I'd never get anything done.