One of my colleagues attended the recent Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) event in New York City this month, and when asked about the latest buzz and industry hot topics, I was rather surprised by her answer: “It’s all about text”.

I don’t know why I was surprised, but really, I see it happening every day as a Key Account Manager here at mBlox. Perhaps it is because many have forecast the end of SMS, but that clearly is not the case. This same sentiment can be found in a recent article by Marcus Anderson of the Canadian company Broadplay, entitled Reality Check: SMS is dead, long live SMS.

It seems that large corporations across many verticals have begun to realize that mobile text is the place to connect with their end users and expand the window of interaction they have with them. They just needed a solid approach, proven technology and the confidence that only success can bring. Beta trial, pilots and proof of concept projects finally seem to have run their due course and mobile channel is producing real ROI.

I have the luxury of working with large clients, often national or global brands. Every month I see more major Fortune 500 companies starting new SMS programs, understanding the market and value chain and embracing mobile into their day-to-day operations. standard rate SMS continues to grow and it is apparent that it is turning the corner from being part of the “misc” heading in marketing budgets, to new line items called “Mobile”.

Upon leaving the European market at the end of 2006 for the sunny adventure of California, there has been a sense of déja vu as the same patterns have been occurring in the US, which is just a few years behind the UK. I have seen the step-change recently in standard rate, but don’t get me wrong, there’s still plenty of money to be made in premium SMS. But, simple text is growing rapidly with finance, news, sports leagues and even blue chip technology firms taking this very seriously. There’s an additional wave of mobile interest, and it’s from business, big business, it’s all about text.