can u sms me plz?

TheEdge: Malaysia ranks sixth in the world in terms of total SMS volume, behind China, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia and India, Maxis head of strategy and new businesses Dr Nikolai Dobberstein said. Malaysia came ahead of countries like the UK and South Korea, he said, quoting data from Gartner research that showed SMS volume growing 20% last year. About 50 billion SMSes were generated in Malaysia last year, behind India’s 70 billion and Indonesia’s 90 billion. China is well ahead in the lead with approximately 560 billion SMSes, followed by the Philippines’ 430 billion and Japan’s 190 billion. Malaysia has 23.3 million registered mobile phone users as at end-2007, translating to an 86% mobile penetration.

MyTake: I am not sure how accurate the data is but here are my quick conclusions based on the above:-

1)Asians luv 2 sms

2)Asians veli clever 2 save $

3)Asians hv many rumours 2 spread

4)Asians losing the personal/human touch?

5)Asians like 2 do things fast

6)Except for Japan, people in advanced countries uses telephone/email/send smoke signal/telepathy more than smses

* Beijing Olympic torch lits atop of Qomolangma (or Mt Everest to the Westerners) today. This mountain is the tallest in the world with a height of 8,844.43 meter peak.

* Oil prices touches almost USD124 per barrel today, another record high. I may be repeating the same mantra like just anybody else. Oil prices goes up due to 1) weakening USD, 2)increased in real demand, 3)supply constraint due to social/political situations (Nigeria, Iran and Iraq), 4)reduced production by OPEC since 2006 and 5)speculation. All the above problems are equally hard to solve but I believe oil price will only go down when there is intervention or the real demand dwindles...despite the slowing down of global growth, I am afraid this may not come so soon..watch out for China, India and the Middle East.