Push Notification- The new, better, text message?

Urban Airship has a new blog post today announcing their 10 Billionth Push Notification.  The post  also mentions a Forrester Research piece titled:  The New Messaging Mandate.  I have not purchased the Forrester study but both are timely in that we are coming off a year that is widely being called a turning point in Mobile, especially with the rise of Apps.

• In November, Nielsen noted that as of the 3rd Quarter of 2011,  43% of U.S. wireless subscribers now own Smartphones.
• This week, Flurry posted on their blog that, as of December 2011, Mobile App Usage now accounts for  94 minutes/month vs. 72 minutes for the web.   

As we move towards Mobile Apps becoming more and more mainstream, there is a solid argument to look at Push Notifications as a key piece of a Marketing Communication Strategy.   Especially when that message can take the form of something more than text.   As we put ourselves in a consumers shoes, we have remember how we continuously choose to juggle the various forms of communication we receive.   In addition to email, Facebook, voicemail & text, the notification tray on Android and Notification Center on iOS are becoming the new form of communication that seems to rival, and at times, exceed the urgency of the text message.   As we view this new "inbox" with more and more credibility, marketers need to adjust their communication accordingly and understand where this form of communication falls with their fans/customers/users.   Below is the Infographic published by Urban Airship in their march to 10B push Notifications.   It would be interesting to see an overall number of Push Notifications to date across all platforms & apps and how that compares to overall text messages.