Mobile texting, that utilitarian form of mobile marketing that paved the way for everything else mobile, appears to be finally falling to its sexier counterparts: mobile apps and mobile barcode-based campaigns.

That is the finding of a new survey from AT&T: Mobile apps (43%) and mobile barcodes (41%) rank highest as mobile marketing strategies companies would be interested in deploying in the next 12 months.

Mobile web (35%) and SMS messages (34%) are not far behind, however, and digital signage (17%) was the least desired.

More Supporting Stats

Another recent study, from the e-tailing group and sponsored by Bronto, further drives this point home. It found that SMS marketing tactics are far less likely to be used by marketers than other mobile capabilities such as mobile commerce sites and mobile applications. Just 14% of marketers currently collect SMS opt-in from customers in all channels, while only 7% text to send out marketing messages, and 6% text to send out transactional support messages such as confirmations and order status.

The Location Value-Add

One company, retail REIT DDR Corp., is setting out to prove these numbers wrong–by adding a little more pizazz to its offering besides straight up SMS functionality.

This week it launched ValuText, a location-based, mobile marketing service that sends offers from retailers within a designated shopping center via text message to opted-in shoppers once they enter a "geo-fence," a pre-defined, virtual space established around the shopping center.

Geo-fence technology is compatible with 92% of U.S. mobile phones, DDR says. DDR has partnered with Placecast for the offering.