More than 100 billion text messages are sent every month in the U.S. But that's not enough for Zipwhip founder John Lauer who thinks the growth of text messaging has been held back since it is primarily contained to the mobile phone. Lauer and his team at Zipwhip are looking to change that, creating a new way for people to send text messages via desktop or laptop computers.

Why would anyone want to do that? After all, isn’t it just as easy to send an email or instant message?

Lauer doesn’t think so, saying there are plenty of examples when a computer user would like to “whip off” a short, snappy message to a friend or family member’s phone. (In fact, the Zipwhip tool automatically converts language into text message form, such as LOL.)

“Texting actually has become more important to us than to just be stuck in one terminal,” said Lauer.  “We believe it has to be extended to other places in your life, including the Web and the desktop.”

About five weeks ago, Zipwhip rolled out a beta version of the service on Sprint’s network. It also has internal trials at U.S. Cellular and Cellular South, with talks going on with a number of other carriers, Lauer said.

One of the more interesting statistics from those early tests at Sprint is that about 20 percent of users are keeping the Zipwhip application open in their Web browsers for an average of six and half hours during the weekday, said Lauer.

“Their phone is sitting next to them or in their purse or in their pocket, so they are really just appending their texting experience,” he said. “A lot of people who have texting as their main communication medium, they are like: ‘Wow, I can now do this from my luxurious keyboard.’”

That opens a potential "gold mine" for carriers, according to Lauer. He believes wireless carriers could leverage their historical control over SMS to integrate more deeply with the daily communication needs of computer users, an area where Twitter, Facebook and Google also are moving with their new online communications tools. In other words, the carrier could turn its Web site into a "destination" rather than a place just to pay bills.

Many instant messaging services already offer text messaging capabilities, as does Microsoft's Outlook. But Lauer -- who called  Outlook's SMS system a "broken experience" -- doesn't think anyone has nailed it.

While Skype has gained dominance around voice over Internet and AOL and MSN have cornered instant messaging, Lauer said no one has really led the way in terms of creating a dominant brand for text messaging on the Internet.

"There isn't anybody and that's why it is creating an opportunity for us to fill that void," said Lauer.

Of course, the carriers aren't about to part with the cash cow of text messaging. And Lauer, who previously served as CEO of Simplewire, a company that was sold to Qpass in 2006, understands that his new company will need to figure out a way to help the carriers make more money.

"The carriers own SMS, hands down, so we want to help them take it to the next level," he said. Zipwhip is in the early stages of trying to figure out its business model, though Lauer said they want to fit someplace in the carriers' revenue chain. 

"Unlike email and IM, there is a revenue model around text messaging, and so we think there will be ample opportunity to try to participate in that," he said.

Started in August 2007, Zipwhip has kept a relatively low-profile for much of its history as Lauer and his team built the technology. It was not an easy task, since they had to create a new two-way messaging network.

"It is a real hard thing to solve because in the SMS world you have to work with the carriers," he said.

The company -- backed by angel investors -- is currently looking for a first round of funding. Lauer is hopeful he can find that capital in order to modernize text messaging, which he said "is still kind of stuck in the '80s." 

"Texting is not going away... It is not slowing down," he said. "There are some people who think that texting will go away and we will all tend towards email, but I think those people are living under a rock."