The big txt rip off

They all laughed at the man who invented the mobile phone but now you can say merry Christmas to all of your loved ones, friends and family through a device not much bigger than a mince pie.

For over a decade the giants of the mobile phone industry have been charging us as much as 30p per message for over a decade.

With first class stamp prices on the rise, the price of a home made mince pie might seem relatively cheap to send an instant message, albeit brief, to someone a few miles away or in a different part of the country.

But now smartphones are getting smarter and so are their users.

iPhones initially lured in users via the promise of apps - thousands of free and funky games and somewhat useless gadgets and utensils.

The word App made a late but grand entrance into the internet boom and surfed its way into popular culture with a google search of the word throwing up several million results.

But then it was Blackberry's turn to play catch-up and churn out something they thought to be better and more value for money.

Enter Blackberry Messenger.

In popular culture no longer does BBM stand for Big Beautiful Man.

It does however, mean that once you get hold of one of these nifty smart phones you can send as many texts, pictures and videos to friends on Blackberry devices for free via built in Blackberry messenger; as long as you have unlimited data allowance on your contract.

While negotiating the tiny keypad may prove a difficult task for the sausage fingered folk or those with bad eyesight, BBM offers an opportunity not to be missed; saving pennys and pounds this Christmas by sending free festive messages to your loved ones.

Stiff competition

However the Blackberry unique selling point is now facing some stiff competition.

Applications are being released like WhatsApp, which if prove successful, will revolutionise sending personal messages saving users a potential fortune.

With the apps you can send free multimedia messages to most smartphones, whether Blackberry, Android or iPhone as long as you have unlimited internet on your phone contract.

A standard UK text for Orange O2 and most networks on a pay as you go tariff costs 10p.

While a picture message on pay as you go for O2 can cost 25p or with orange it could cost 30p.


So capturing children's excited grins on Christmas morning on your smartphone and sending it to friends and family over the festive period could end up costing a small fortune.

Whereas if you have WhatsApp, or a similar application, and unlimited internet usage it will cost you nothing.

As we break into the second decade of the 21st Century the possibilities of free multimedia messaging are limitless.