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BY JING LIU
ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO

You're watching multisource global video news analysis from Newsy.

If you could get text messages for free -- would you still keep your carrier’s $20 a month text message plan?

Apple’s releasing iMessage this week. Daily Tech TV shows us how it works.

“I can tap send and it works in exactly the same way as what your SMS messaging application would do on an iPhone. But now it’s open, obviously, to the iPod Touch, the iPhone of course, and also the iPad.”

Users can send messages over cell networks or Wi-Fi -- and it won’t count toward their text message usage. While customers are happy with the new, money-saving app, The New York Times tells us why it might be a killer to cellular carriers.

“More than two trillion text messages are sent each year in the United States, generating more than $20 billion in revenue for the wireless industry. Verizon Wireless alone generates as much as $7 billion a year in revenue from texting, … and texting brings in about a third of the operating income.”

iMessage will not be the first messaging application for mobile users. Messengers like TextPlus and Viber already have several million users. Why haven’t they replaced SMS as the dominant mechanism for instant messaging among mobile users? TFTS explains.

“The concern here is wide adoption. … If Apple decides to open the platform to other smartphone and mobile ecosystems, though, telcos might be in for trouble.”

But as long as iMessage stays within iProducts -- Consumer Affairs says cell carriers have nothing to fear.

“…not everyone has a smartphone. If someone with a smartphone wants to send a message to a friend with a regular voice-only device, they have to send a text.”

But looking ahead, the development of free messengers will force cellular carriers to restructure their SMS plans. According to Digital Trends, some have already started.

“AT&T, for example, will soon [give customers] … the option to send messages for 20 cents apiece, sent and received. The company will no longer offer 1,000 text messages per month for $10.”

TG Daily warns -- free message applications may lead to higher calling plan prices and charges for mobile data, which could make up the carriers’ potential losses in SMS services. 

Transcript by Newsy.