Posted by Eric Zeman on Information Week

Gartner took quite a leap of faith in predicting that SMS usage in 2008 will top 2007′s numbers. In fact, Gartner goes so far as to say that the number of messages will top 2.3 trillion worldwide. That’s an average of 767 messages per mobile subscriber over the course of 12 months. I think we can all do better than that.

First some facts and figures. Gartner estimates that about 1.9 trillion messages were sent this year and next year will see 20 percent growth to reach the 2.3 trillion mark. In line with increased usage, network operators should expect to see their messaging revenue climb about 16 percent from $52 billion in 2007 to $60.2 billion in 2008. Not a bad chunk of change.

What’s most interesting is the usage patterns of messaging services. Gartner notes that the least amount of growth will come from Europe, where use is leveling off and may even reach its zenith this year. North America, on the other hand, will see significant growth. We’re expected to send more than 300 billion messages, up from 189 billion in 2007. That means North America alone will account for roughly 25 percent of the growth in message use in 2008.

“The market is being driven by increased penetration of users, more frequent usage of peer-to-peer messaging, and unlimited and bucketed messaging plans,” said Tole Hart, research director at Gartner. “There has also been some uptake of mobile e-mail via POP3 mailboxes and mobile IM service, but it’s very small compared with the uptake of SMS. These services are used primarily as an extension to a PC. However, the market is seeing a number of consumers using BlackBerry and Palm Treo devices to access address books, phone numbers and e-mail.”

Read the complete report here