The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recent StatShot document shows that the world sent a total of 6.1 trillion short message services (SMS) in 2010. The trend has moved from 2.8 trillion SMS messages sent in 2008; 4.3 trillion in 2009; and then 6.1 trillion in 2010, which shows the growth of 1.8 trillion.
The question is thus: is the ring tone becoming obsolete? If the world continues to SMS this way, ring tone companies better watch.
The International Telecommunication Union (Union internationale des télécommunications, in French) is the specialized agency of the United Nations which is responsible for information and communication technologies. ITU coordinates the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promotes international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, works to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the developing world and establishes worldwide standards (wikipedia)