Now There's A Marketable Skill

From an article in the New York Times' Technology section on text messaging:

A separate study of teenagers with cellphones by Harris Interactive found that 42 percent of them claim that they can write text messages while blindfolded.

And I hear that 17 percent claimed they can write text messages while driving blindfolded, which, safety aside, is a good multitasking drill.

The larger point of the Times article is the phenomenal increase in text messaging among mobile phone users.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, American cellphone subscribers for the first time sent text messages more than they phoned, according to Nielsen Mobile. Since then, the average subscriber's volume of text messages has shot upward by 64 percent, while the average number of calls has dropped slightly.

According to this blog post in Wired, the trend has favorable implications for advertisers:

A major inhibitor to mobile advertising campaigns in the American market has been cellphone users' slow adoption of texting and non-voice related activities. With texting now getting close to outpacing voice calls two to one, it can't be long until phone users adapt to more SMS-based advertising and marketing techniques as well.

"Adapt," as in forced to endure. And no, it can't be long.