Look Out it's Super SMS!

October 24, 2006

Telecom Italia claims it will be the world's first operator to launch so-called "Super SMS" when it starts rolling out the service next month. Its new offering will allow pc owners with an Alice e-mail address to send instant messages to mobile phones and vice versa.

According to the Italian press agency, AGI, "Alice Messenger" will enable users to write messages online in real time, thus doing away with the wait normally associated with sending and receiving e-mails or text messages. The service will be available on computers for all customers with an Alice Mail account and on certain Telecom Italia Mobile phones. TI says it will keep Super SMS free-of-charge until the end of the year, in a bid to encourage take-up of the service.

Telecom Italia dominates its domestic market with a 60% share of all new mobile customers. The company says it plans to launch a wide range of new mobile phones equipped with the "Alice Messenger" software.

Earlier this month Microsoft announced that the mobile instant messaging service it plans to launch with Orange in France, in December of this year, will be extended to other European countries in 2007. According to the companies involved, the service will allow users to be always connected to their contacts, on the PC and on the mobile; the companies expect the service adoption to be as widespread as e-mail and SMS in everyday life.