|
The companies have come together to raise overall awareness of MMS and to ensure consistent market development into an open global market. It is understood that the application has the revenue potential in next-generation networks that SMS has in 2G networks.
Currently, there is no industry standard for MMS technology, but it is understood that most of the major European and US handset makers are collaborating on setting a standard for the new technology.
MMS, which has been described as the third generation of messaging services, will allow users to send each other rich content such as audio and video clips, photographs and images with text messaging. "There is real potential for MMS to be just as successful as SMS," Peter Bodor, public relations manager in Ericsson's consumer segment, told ElectricNews.Net.
Each of the companies believe that MMS will be a key mass-market service for mobile operators, content providers, application developers and advertisers alike. Not surprising, given that the popularity of SMS has had a notable impact on operators' revenues and profits. According to the GSM Association, worldwide SMS traffic amounted to 15 billion messages in December, 2000.
The GSM Association said that MMS will offer a natural and successful evolution of the SMS business model, generating new revenue streams from existing customer bases and attracting new customers. Messaging in the form of MMS will lead the way to profit in 2.5/3G just like SMS has done in 2G, predicted the association.
According to Bodor, Ericsson's first phone to use MMS, the T68, should be available by the end of the year. Pricing details were not available.
Recently, Ericsson, Alcatel, Motorola and Siemens announced that they will implement the second generation of such services, EMS (Enhanced Messaging Services). The companies said they will work together to ensure interoperability between their products and also in the evolution of the EMS standard. EMS allows users to "add life" to their text messages in the form of images, melodies and animations.
|
