Nearly 10 percent of U.S. online customers in a Jupiter survey say they have already been plagued by text-message spam, while the same number said they have received SMS pitches that they wanted, Internet Week reports (via MediaBuyerPlanner). In Europe, where more people use cell phones and text messaging, more than 80 percent of mobile phone users say they have received text message spam, according to a Swiss university and the International Telecommunication Union poll.

But Jim Manis, global chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association, defends mobile marketing in the U.S., saying the fear of text messaging spam is unfounded.

He points out that U.S. carrier networks, with only 10 access points, are much more restricted than in Europe, where access points count in the hundreds. And aggregators have greater control over content in the U.S.

When ads do begin appearing on phones in the U.S., Manis says, they will probably not be via SMS but WAP, because advertisers will want a richer format. Whereas SMS users number 60 million, some 18 million wireless subscribers use WAP-based browsers on handsets, and half of them access the technology once a week or less.