Twitter users in the UK are not too happy today. Twitter is momentarily ending outbound SMS messaging to users in the UK. The service has become very popular in the UK, which is great for Twitter, but that also means higher costs.
The Twitter blog says “it could cost Twitter about $1,000 per user per year to send SMS outside of Canada, India, or the US.”
It is understandable that Twitter can't afford to foot that type of bill per user, but Twitter still needs a business model to work off of. Whether it is ads or a subscription service, they need to generate some form of steady income.
Whatever they do, I'm sure it will upset some of its users. But it is better to upset a few than to have to put up a permanent 'fail whale.'
