Now, the craze for sending text messages shows no sign of abating. In fact, last month people in Britain sent over a billion of them. But now, a new generation of phones is about to hit the streets …… and these handsets can send not only text, but take and send pictures as well. As Rory Cellan-Jones now explains.

At the school gate on the way home, evidence of the text messaging craze is everywhere. The phonemakers never expected it to take off. It was teenagers who decided this was the way to keep in touch.

I send about 15 a day.

I send about 20 because I just love texting people.

But with mobile phone sales expected to prove disappointing this Christmas, the industry is desperate for a new gimmick; this could be it.

Next year, phones with cameras built in will arrive in the shops. The idea is that wherever you are, at Buckingham Palace or on the bus home, you can send your friends or family a photo with a message attached.

It brings a whole new dimension to the mobile phone industry, allowing people to take images, send them, and for people to receive not just colour images, but also text and audio as a message.

The whole mobile phone industry is desperately hoping that in a year or so we’ll all be sending these kind of messages. Even now, we’re spending over 100 million pounds a month just on text messages, and this could be an even bigger money spinner.

Sending a picture will cost two or three times as much as an ordinary text message – not everyone’s convinced it’s the next big thing.

The take-off of texting did surprise a lot of people, but picture texting is something again. It needs a lot more network capacity and I think you’ve got to persuade all your friends to pay hundreds of pounds for this piece of kit, if you’re going to use it at all. So, I think we’re a little way off seeing picture texting becoming a mass-market thing just yet.

They once told us it was good to talk, but mobile phone networks, saddled with big debts, … … know their profits now depend on persuading us that a picture is worth a thousand words.
(End)

• A craze (noun): an activity, object, or idea that is very popular, usually for a short time.
• To abate (verb): to become less strong.
• A generation (noun): a group of products at the same stage of development.
• To hit the streets/ market/ shelves (phrase): to become available to buy.
• A handset (noun): a mobile phone.
• To take off (phrasal verb): to suddenly become popular or successful.
• To keep in touch (phrase): to continue to communicate with someone.
• To prove (verb): to show a particular result after a period of time.
• An industry (noun): the people and activities involved in one type of business.
• Desperate (adjective): needing or wanting something very much.
• A gimmick (noun): something that does not have real value but attracts attention, especially making someone buy something.
• A whole new dimension (phrase): a completely new and important part or aspect of something.
• Or so (idiom): approximately, more or less.
• A money spinner (idiom): a product, business or idea that makes a lot of money.
• The next big thing (idiom): something expected to become very popular or successful.
• Capacity (noun): the total amount that can be produced or used.
• To persuade someone (verb): to make someone do or believe something by talking to them.
• A piece of kit (phrase): a single item of equipment used for a specific purpose.
• To be a little way off (idiom): not happening soon.
• Mass-market (adjective): made to be sold to as many people as possible.
• To be saddled with something (idiom): to be forced to have a difficult responsibility or problem.
• A debt (noun): something, especially money, that you need to pay to someone else.
• A picture is worth a thousand words (idiom): images can communicate ideas more clearly than words alone.

In this text, there are different examples of future forms. We can use different future forms to talk about the future.

– Use the present simple for something scheduled:

‘I fly to Sweden on Tuesday.’   ‘I finish my English lesson at 16:30.’   ‘The game is in Paris next week.’

– Use the present continuous for arrangements or organised plans:

‘I’m meeting friends for dinner tomorrow.’   ‘She’s coming to our house next weekend.’

– Use will to express facts and beliefs about the future, make offers and promises, and to mean want to or be willing to:

‘You’ll have a great time!’   ‘I’ll never forget you!’   ‘Mum says she’ll help with my homework.’

Use be going to for plans and intentions, and to make predictions based on evidence:

‘I’m going to revise for the exam.’   ‘We’re just going to relax tonight.’   ‘Look outside, it’s going to rain!’

Use will be + -ing (future continuous) for continuous actions happening at a specific future time:

‘You’ll be travelling the world this time next year.’   ‘We’ll all be driving flying cars in 10 years!’

Use verbs like expect, would like, plan, hope, want, aim, etc. to talk about the future:

‘I’d like to sell my car next year.’   ‘She hopes to finally buy her own house soon.’   ‘He said he expects to pass the exam easily.’

Use modal verbs could, might, and may to make predictions when we’re not certain about the future:

‘I might spend a year studying abroad.’   ‘She may be at the party tonight, she said she might come.’

*We can also present tense clauses with words like if, when, after, before, until, etc. to talk about the future:

‘If it rains, I’m not going out.’   ‘You’re staying here until you finish your homework!’   ‘Before you leave, can you close the window?’

Examples in the text:

• … a new generation of phones is about to hit the streets: ‘be about to’ is a phrase used to talk about an immediate future action – something that is going to happen very soon.
• … with mobile phone sales expected to prove disappointing this Christmas: the verb ‘expect to’ is used here to talk about something people think will happen.
• Next year, phones with cameras built in will arrive in the shops: ‘will arrive’ is used here to talk about a fact or a strong belief about the future.
• The whole mobile phone industry is desperately hoping: ‘hope’ is used here to talk about a future desire.
• … in a year or so we’ll all be sending these kind of messages: the future continuous ‘we’ll all be sending’ is used here to talk about an ongoing, continuous action happening in the future.
• … this could be an even bigger money spinner: the modal verb ‘could’ is used to make a prediction about a possible future situation.
• Sending a picture will cost two or three times as much: ‘will cost’ is used here to talk about a fact or a strong belief about the future.
• … if you’re going to use it at all: ‘if + going to’ is used here to talk about intentions or ‘willingness’ to do something.

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/english-grammar-reference/talking-about-future

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