26 Billion Text Messages Sent During China Spring Festival

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Here’s yet more proof that plain ol’ text messages aren’t going away any time soon. The recent Spring Festival in China (the local name for what’s often referred to as Chinese New Year) saw the country send some 26 billion text messages. That’s billion with a “b,” mind you.
That number, 26 billion, represents a 13 percent increase over last year.
And here’s one last quick stat: China has some 859 million mobile phone subscribers, which works out to 74.5 percent of the country’s population.
A survey last year pegged the number of U.S. mobile phone subscribers at 285 million, or 91 percent of the country’s population.
You’ll recall that Deloitte said in a report last week that text messaging was as popular as ever, more so than social networks like Twitter and Facebook, largely because they’re seen as more immediate and personal.