SMS down as wireless data texting rises

China Mobile's short message services fell to 46.5b yuan last year from a peak of 53.6b

Short message services, which once experienced explosive growth in both revenue and volume in China, have now almost exhausted their potential after a more-than-decade development.

Launched in China in 2000, the services quickly became popular among most mobile phone users. Chinese people loved to send greetings, express their concerns, swap information or tell jokes via short words on cellphones.