CU L8R: Americans reply to joy of text leaves Americans cold

Depending on your point of view, mobile phone users in the US are missing out on one of life's simplest pleasures or else wisely avoiding one its most annoying new trends – phone texting.

New figures suggest that while 19 billion messages were sent worldwide last year by texting – or Short Message Service (SMS) – barely any of them were sent in the US, which is a virtualtext-free zone.

Part of the problem was that until last April many of the country's mobile phone networks, notoriously well behind those in Europe, were unable to carry text messages. And American phone companies have not been marketing the joys of texting someone: "CU L8R".

"It's partly a cultural issue but the blame also falls on the US cellular companies," said Allan Reiter, a telecommunications analyst and publisher of the Wireless Internet and Mobile Computing newsletter.

The experts also say texting is already being overtaken by cheaper alternatives, such as e-mail and instant messaging.