In the wireless world, competing for customers is seemingly a full contact sport these days. With millions of “smart” phones now rolling of the assembly lines every year, many wireless business users are beginning to use their wireless phones and wi-fi enabled laptops as virtual offices - blasting through bandwidth like its going out of style.

Wireless carriers are now licking their chops at the thought of tapping into the next big profit center: wireless data transmission.

Text Messaging

The gold rush has already begun in the text messaging arena. Wireless users routinely shell out 10-15 cents (sometimes more) for a message that contains a measly 160 characters of text.

Why do the carriers charge so much for sending text messages? Because they can. Considering that we send about 28.8 billion SMS messages each month in the U.S. (according to wireless industry group CTIA), there’s a lot of money to be made, and when it comes to texting, we simply can’t get enough of it.

Picture and Video Messaging

They say a picture is worth a thousand words (texts?), so getting wireless users hooked on snapping photos of every day life and sending them to friends, family and business associates is a revenue generating no brainer.

And video messaging? Simply bandwidth heaven for wireless carriers. Verizon alone has reported earlier this year that its customers sent or received more 1.1 billion picture/video messages during just the first quarter of 2008.

Customers also completed 34.6 million music and video downloads. On average, Verizon’s wireless customers spent $11.94 a month on data services, an increase of about 33 percent from a year earlier.

Web Surfing

As users become adept at surfing the internet on their cell phones, perhaps text messaging will go the way of 8-track tapes and the 33 RPM record. Video chatting may be the next bandwidth hog and pot of gold for carriers.

Wireless broadband usage has already passed the point of no return.  In fact, 58 percent of Verizon’s retail customers owned broadband capable devices at the end of the first quarter of 2008. Mobile data transmissions accounted for about 20 percent of all wireless sales for the first quarter of 2008, the company said.

Wireless carriers are ramping up for more wireless data demands in the future as well. Verizon spent $9.3 billion on new wireless spectrum licenses in the Federal Communications Commission’s recent 700MHz spectrum auction.

With the rollout of the next-generation of wireless networks (4G) real-time video transmission from user to user may be the next big thing. Handsets, no doubt, will have the ability to send and receive video in real-time, enabling user to chat with family, friends and business colleagues at the touch of a button and from anywhere.

All of this spells one thing for carriers - REVENUE.

The Business Week video below contains more information on the unlimited data plans and the data enriched future of wireless carriers.