A new study claims that text messaging will retain its lead as the highest revenue generator across all messaging categories.

SMS is expected to generate $177 billion in global services revenues in 2013, according to ABI Research, New York.

The market researcher said SMS will account for 83 percent of all mobile messaging revenues through 2013.

However, the study suggests that regional differences will determine the success of messaging in terms of its expansion to the Web, advertising and the incorporation of mobile messaging in social networks and media.

The report, titled "Mobile Messaging Services," examines the messaging market across SMS, MMS, voicemail, instant messaging and email.

The study details the drivers from the consumer and business end-user perspectives and from the key supply-side players, including device vendors, carriers and middleware providers.

Also in the report are highlights of developments and recent activity with mobile messaging services at the regional level and the ramifications for the future.

The research finds that the developed regions of North America and Europe have the highest messaging average revenue per user and send the most messages from the computer to the handheld using instant messaging.

Subscribers from Asia-Pacific sign up for the most SMS alert services, according to the study.

Latin Americans are heavy texters, the research showed. However, they prefer the pay-as-you-go model for their messaging plans.

ABI's report shows that these regional differences will cause established messaging suppliers to reevaluate their business models.

What does this mean for players in the SMS space?

Device vendors and messaging platform suppliers have to manage across markets where growth is key and other markets where product differentiation is key.

For smaller companies, this is a great time to develop new products and services, ABI said.