Americans send 740 billion text messages in first half of 2009

The CTIA's survey found that, in America today, there are more than 246 million data-capable mobile devices. Text messaging remains a popular way to communicate and, in the U.S. alone, 740 billion text messages were sent in the first half of this year - an average of 4.1 billion per day.

Wireless subscribers are also sending more pictures and other multi-media messages via their mobile devices. In fact, more than 10.3 billion MMS messages were reported for the first half of 2009, up from 4.7 billion in the first half of 2008.

"The survey results indicate that mobile broadband is an integral part of everyday life for many Americans," said Steve Largent, President and CEO of CTIA -The Wireless Association. "The wireless ecosystem - infrastructure suppliers, service providers, device manufacturers, operating system providers, and applications developers - are simultaneously working together and competing against one another to generate valuable and unparalleled products and services for consumers."

The CTIA's study follows one earlier this year by uSwitch which revealed that 60 billion text messages are sent in the UK every year.

Tags: mobile devices, mobile marketing, SMS, text messaging, U.S.