Nowadays there are so many different ways of messaging someone that it could make people give up the traditional text gradually.

Text messaging is the art of sending a short， electronic message between two cellphones. But in the last few years， messaging in this way has been used less and less.

The rise of smartphones and tablets has seen an increase in the use of instant messaging apps， which offer a cheap alternative to traditional texts. Using wireless Internet connections， people can send limitless numbers of instant messages to their friends for very little cost. Unlike traditional mobile texts， the users only have to pay to download the app once， and then each message sent is free.

In 2012， 19 billion messages were sent per day using instant messaging apps， compared with 17.6 billion texts. And it is expected that the instant messaging app market will grow to 50 billion per day by 2014. So does this really mean the end for text messaging？

Its not necessarily. Many people， particularly in developing countries， dont have smartphones. They use normal mobile phones and find that text messaging is the best messaging experience for them for a while.

How many instant messages will probably be sent per hour by 2014？

A. About 50 billion. B. About 17.6 billion.

C. About 3.468 million. D. About 2.1 billion.