Nearly 7,500 telepoems were submitted, written in funky shorthand and sent via mobile phone keypad, during the two-week competition. A panel that included distinguished poets U.A. Fanthorpe and Peter Sansom selected the seven best. We are at the start of a literary and communications revolution. Last year 6 billion text messages were sent in the U.K. Worldwide, the figure topped 100 billion. That, say market experts, adds up to a lucrative stream of revenue for mobile service providers.
Text messaging is priced separately from the flat fee charged by mobile telephone providers.
It's not a bad sideline for media outlets like the Guardian, either. Poetry and profit, however, have rarely been a good marriage. This isn't literature. It's a game, a fad. Millions of his countrymen and -women do.