Following the success of SMS, the industry is counting on Multimedia Messaging Service as the next big thing.
Amid the recent flurry of activity among the handset makers, there is a new trend starting.
Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson have all included phone-camera hybrids among their offerings. Behind the different cameras lenses and color screens, the one technology that will drive the success of these handsets is Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).
MMS messages allow video, audio, pictures and animation to be sent between compatible phones. It is envisioned that the user will take pictures with the phone-cum-camera, then send these off to a friend via MMS. Alternatively, he could record a song, then dispatch it to friends.
MMS, which is based on Internet Protocol (IP), may be the application that brings the use of "always on" General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) networks to the mass market. In future, when third generation (3G) networks are ready, MMS users will further benefit from the higher transmission speeds of 3G.
From SMS to EMS
The precursor of MMS is Short Messaging Service (SMS), which has a well-documented success. Mobile messaging researcher Mobile Lifestreams estimates that more than 60 billion SMS messages will be sent worldwide in December 2002 Nokia 7650
"SMS is a reasonably revenue-rich service because of the high volume of usage," said Paul Ventura, managing director of research firm Meta Group Asia Pacific, last year.
Driven by the quest for richer messaging content to increase the average revenue per user (ARPU), handset makers and operators foresaw the need for improvements to the text-only SMS standard.
Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) became the next step in the evolutionary ladder. This standard allows pictures, sounds, animations and formatted text to be swapped between compliant mobile phones. However, EMS has had a labored introduction. Some phone makers have been slow to adopt it, while Nokia has decided not to employ the standard at all. Instead the market leader uses its own Picture Messaging technology, which is incompatible with EMS.
Transition to MMS
From initial signs, it appears MMS will have much wider industry support than EMS.
The first MMS-capable handset will arrive as early as Q2 this year, in the form of the Sony Ericsson T68i. Nokia will follow up with the 7650 middle of this year. The Motorola A820 and another Sony Ericsson, the P800, will come in the fourth quarter.
However, there will be a long transition period from SMS to MMS. At a recent MMS workshop, infrastructure provider CMG showed off a T68i prototype. Users have the choice of sending messages in either SMS or MMS format. If an MMS message is sent to a non-compliant phone, the recipient will get an SMS notification, asking him to visit a Web site where the MMS message can be retrieved in full.
For now, this is an imperfect workaround as it requires the recipient to have ready access to a Web-enabled PC.
Making business sense
One example of the use of MMS was depicted in a CMG commercial. In it, a man draws a business diagram on the pavement, takes a picture of it, then sends it to a colleague by MMS.
MMS builds on the current business models of SMS. Similar to SMS, person-to-person communication will generate much of the revenue. Like the example in the commercial, users will create their own content, in the form of photographs or voice recordings, and then send them to other users.
Vendor-to-consumer MMS messages will also be revenue earners for mobile operators. For instance, end users can request for movie trailers and skycam traffic reports to be delivered to their mobiles.
Although CMG believes successful MMS pricing will be "marginally higher" than SMS, the best pricing model has yet to be found. Some operators may adopt a volume-based system, while others may charge a flat fee for each message.
A paradigm shift
MMS is more than a new standard; it marks a paradigm shift. It is a significant step in the evolution of mobile phones from communication tools to complete Web devices.
The use of IP-based MMS is only the beginning. Earlier this year, Qualcomm announced that it will be bringing voice-over-IP (VoIP) services to its 3G CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) customers. According to industry sources, there will be advantages to such a format, such as significant cost savings for international calls.
Furthermore, the deployment of the Internet as the messaging backbone will allow users to move towards the concept of Unified Messaging (UM). UM allows users to access all forms of communication--whether it's voice, fax, email or phone messages--from any device.
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