New research predicts that 2014 will be the first year since their invention that the number of SMS text messages will decline in the UK.
Deloitte says that instant messaging (IM) services such as WhatsApp, WeChat and Apple's iMessage, will account for 50 billion messages sent globally per day. That's double the number of old-fashioned text messages that will be sent this year, it's predicted.
This market is almost moving faster than anyone can measure it: in 2012, just 11 IMs were sent for every text, globally.
Texts still make a lot of money for mobile companies, however, generating $40 billion in 2014 - that's 50 times more than anyone makes from IM services, which tend to be free. It won't be until 2018 that IMs start to make operators more money than texts.
The first Short Message Service (SMS) to be sent from a mobile in the UK was in 1992, by Vodafone engineer Neil Papworth (even though his phone didn't have a keyboard).
And this is what we do on our phones, as a percentage of all UK smartphones.
That means we have more of these, which give you superfast 4G internet ...
... And fewer of these "dumb phones" that can't access the internet.
Fun fact: Nokia used the morse code for SMS for its text alerts, which echoed around offices and lecture theatres the world over.
It's a thing of the past now. Goodbye text messages, it was nice to know you.
