This number can vary from service to service, however, many text message services allow for 140 or 160 characters. This limitation has caused users to develop what has become known as Txt Speak. These are a set of commonly used abbreviations and word substitutes that not only reduce the number of characters necessary for conveying a word or message but also make SMSing or Text Messaging an even faster and more convenient process. For example, the text message service number is commonly used to replace the word 'for', and 'gr8' replaces the word 'great'. Some individuals also choose to omit spaces between words by using capital letters instead, such as 'TextingIsFun' instead of 'Texting is fun'. A relatively text message service new phenomenon that many texting devices are now incorporating is Predictive text software. This gives your phone the technology to anticipate what word you are text message service going to write even before you finish writing, drastically reducing the time it takes for you to text messages. For example, you may type the letters 'step and the software, which is built into the device, will have predicted the word 'stereo' for text message service you. SMS is a technology whose convenience and cost-effectiveness have already made it an integral part of communication in many countries. In recent years, it has been more widely publicized in the United States and as a text message service consequence, its popularity is increasing quickly. This growth is not surprising, however, due to the many benefits that Short Message Service (SMS) brings to communication. Short Message Service (SMS) is a text messaging service text message service component of most telephone, World Wide Web, and mobile telephony systems. It uses standardized communication protocols to enable fixed line/landline or mobile phone devices to exchange short text messages. SMS was the most text message service widely used data application, with an estimated 3.5 billion active users, or about 80% of all mobile phone subscribers, at the end of 2010. Initial Development The SMS concept was developed in the Franco-German GSM cooperation text message service in 1984 by Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert.