Multimedia Messaging Service - Texting, The Next Generation

By: <Rob O'Connor

The Short Messaging Service (SMS) on mobile phones has been phenomenally successful. The Irish Office of the Director of Telecoms Regulation (ODTR) announced that Irish mobile users sent more that 500m text messages in the first quarter of this year. In Britain, it is estimated that 45 million messages are sent per day. SMS has been so widely adopted that a whole culture has sprung up around 'texting', complete with rules of conduct and a vocabulary all of its own. However, SMS is soon to be replaced by telecommunications providers and manufacturers with a new technology - Multimedia Messaging Service.

It has been said that the relationship between SMS and MMS is similar to that between DOS and Windows - it offers all the features of SMS, plus a range of new enhancements. MMS is set to expand the capabilities of messaging by allowing images, formatted text, audio clips and ultimately, video clips to be sent between mobile devices. With this in mind, the potentials for MMS-based applications are huge. An example of one possible service is an update on the familiar SMS scoreflash. There are many existing systems where users receive a text-message whenever their team score a goal. However with MMS, this could be expanded so that the new score is displayed, a few lines of text and video footage of the goal itself. Another example is users sending photographs to one another via their mobile phone.

While MMS is similar to SMS, the technology behind it differs greatly. If User A sends a message to User B, the message takes the following route with SMS:

1. User A sends the message to the SMSC (SMS Centre i.e. the network)
2. The SMSC delivers the message to User B at the earliest opportunity

With MMS however, things get a little more complicated:

1. User A sends the message to the MMSC (Multimedia Messaging Service Centre).
2. When the MMSC receives the message, it sends a confirmation alert back. User A sees this as 'Message Sent'.
3. At the earliest opportunity, the MMSC sends User B a notification that a new message is waiting for them. When User B receives this, User A gets a 'Message Received' indication.
4. User B can then download the message immediately or download it later. Once the message is successfully downloaded, User A gets a 'Message Delivered' indication.

MMS is being touted as the "killer app" of GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) networks (also known as 2.5G networks) and it is central to the business model of the future 3G networks. Mobile operators believe that the benefits of MMS will entice users to upgrade their handsets to MMS-enabled devices and eventually to 3G networks. MMS technology will become commercially available at the end of 2002 or early 2003 and since both Vodafone and O2 currently offer GPRS networks, it is expected that they will incorporate MMS into their array of services. MMS-enabled phones are also creeping into the marketplace, with the Nokia 7210 and the Ericsson T68 now available. The question remains however, as to whether or not the public will embrace this new technology as readily as they did SMS?