Since its inception in the 1940s, mobile communication has brought a renaissance in telecommunication. Though it started as a mode of real time voice communication from anywhere and everywhere, mobile phones have gradually changed the way people communicate. With the inclusion of Short Messaging Service, Multi-media Service and Instant Messaging mobile communication have opened up a plethora of non-voice options of wireless communication.

One of the pioneers in the non-voice communications is the Short Messaging Service, more commonly referred to as SMS. What started just as a text based communicating service comprising of 160 characters, has today spurned off a huge commercial industry.It has rapidly evolved itself to be in sync with the changing needs of the industry. The three milestones which have helped in the evolution of Short Messaging Service are - Voice SMS, SMS Gateway and SMS Virtual Number.

Voice SMS is actually a verbal mode of communication and seems to have turned the concept of text communication on its head.It is for people who find texting too tedious, but would rather settle for a one-way communication rather than having a proper telephonic conversation. Voice SMS, being much simpler and faster than texting, enables one to express one's emotions in a better way. It has been found that areas with low literacy rates shy away from texting. Voice SMS has proved to be extremely beneficial for people from such areas.

SMS Gateway service, on the other hand, enables a client to receive or send an SMS from and to any other media or device. SMS Gateway has made the Short Messaging Service reach out to other devices,like a PC, and not restrict itself to mobile phones.SMS Gateway has made the process of sending an email to a mobile phone user extremely easy.

An SMSvirtual number is exactly what its name suggests. Though it looks like a regular number it can only receive messages. SMS virtual numbers exist within the database of the providing network only. When a message is sent to such an SMS virtual number the corresponding network forwards the message to an application server, which processes the message and delivers it to the client via email or http.

These advanced features of SMS have revolutionized text-based communication and have played a pivotal role in sustaining the popularity and growth of Short Messaging Services.

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