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by smackfu 5690 days ago
Most heavy users of SMS (aka teens) have messaging plans that are either unlimited or very high numbers, like 1500 per month. Usually $15-20 per month, which seems high but they generally replace actual phone talking so it works out.

Also, it's funny that Apple is being brought up in this context. The iPhone treats SMS messages just like chat messages (using the iChat UI), which is exactly the "problem" being described in the article of mixing messaging types carelessly.
3 comments
mhlakhani 5690 days ago
1500 SMS/month for $20 sounds like daylight robbery to me. Here in Pakistan, we get about 8000 SMS/month for $1. So it's not unreasonable to think that SMS would take off really well.
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smackfu 5690 days ago
Oh, I agree. Those are the numbers for the iPhone on AT&T in the US, which is a ripoff and doesn't include any texts in the basic $55 plan. http://buyiphone.apple.com/ipa_preauth/content/catalog/att/

If you are a heavy texter, there are much better plans on other carriers. For instance, Virgin Mobile has unlimited text and data and 300 minutes for $25 a month.

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brownleej 5690 days ago
SMS and iChat may have the same interface, but they are not mixed in a single client. In fact, Apple does not provide an IM client. The central complaint in this article is that the same message was being communicated over email and SMS, without the sender being able to distinguish between the two in any way. I did not read this article as complaining that the interfaces for SMS and email were too similar; I read it is complaining that they were in the same client. The only complaint about the interface I saw was that it grouped all messages together, independent of the subject.

[Edited to clarify which part of the parent I was responding to]

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jokermatt999 5690 days ago
Just to add, Android phones have the same issue with SMS/Google talk interfaces being the same. Luckily I have an unlimited plan though.
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