Over 18 Billion Text Messages Sent in Canada in Q1 2011

Do you only communicate via text messages? According to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), Canadians sent out 18 billion messages in Q1 of 2011, a 10% increase compared to the 16.4 billion texts sent in Q4 2010.

Here are some more stats:

• 6.2 billion person-to-person text messages were sent in March 2011 alone, which represents an average of more than 199 million messages per day.
• Total text messages sent in 2010 numbered 56.4 billion, a 60% increase over the 2009 total of 35.3 billion messages.
• Canadians sent and received a total of 697 million text messages using Common Short Codes in Q1 2011, marking a 11% increase over the 626 million messages sent and received in Q4 2010.
• A total of 2.3 billion Common Short Code messages were sent and received by Canadians in 2010, representing a 36% increase over the 2009 total of 1.7 billion messages.

Texting today is a lot easier than before thanks smartphones like the iPhone. Sending rapid fire SMS messages has become second nature, unlike the days of grappling with T9 auto correct on your old Nokia candy bar. However, auto correct still has some room to improve.

These stats are a bit skewed as texts sent via third party apps like WhatsApp, BBM, Ping, iMessage (coming in iOS 5) and more aren’t included. How many texts do you send in a day?

[CWTA via MobileSyrup]

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