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P800/P802
White Paper, January 2003
48
MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service)
One of the key features in the P800 is the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), expected to
become the preferred messaging method of mobile terminal users, since the ability to send real
pictures and sound greatly enhances the messaging experience. An MMS message from the
P800 can contain text, graphics, animations, photographic images, audio clips, ring melodies and
even a video clip.
Defined and specified by 3GPP as a standard for third generation implementation, MMS
completes the potential of messaging. Sending digital postcards and multiple-slide style
presentations is expected to be among the most popular user applications of MMS. Eagerly
awaited by young users in particular, MMS is projected to fuel the growth of related market
segments. Using the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) as bearer technology and powered by
the high speed transmission technologies GPRS, EDGE and UMTS (W-CDMA), Multimedia
Messaging allows users to send and receive messages that combine text and media in slides,
having a built-in timing sequence decided by the sender. The messages may include any
combination of text, graphics, photographic images, speech and music clips. MMS will serve as
the default mode of messaging on all terminals, making total content exchange second nature.
From utility to sheer fun, it offers benefits at every level and to every kind of user.
Benefits
Essentially enabling the mobile terminal to serve as image processor and conveyor, Multimedia
Messaging accommodates the exchange of important visual information as readily as it facilitates
fun. Business and leisure usage of MMS will be dynamically merged, resulting in enhanced
personal efficiency for users and increased network activity for operators. In short, MMS affords
total usage for total communication. Because MMS uses WAP as its bearer technology and is
being standardized by 3GPP, it has wide industry support and offers full interoperability, which is
a major benefit to service providers and end users. Ease-of-use resulting from both the gradual
steps of the messaging evolution and the continuity of user experience gained from
interoperability is assured.
The MMS server, through which MMS messages are sent, supports flexible addressing (to both
normal phone numbers (MSISDN) and e-mail accounts), which makes user interface more
friendly and allows greater control for operators. The MMS server, moreover, is responsible for
the instant delivery feature of MMS.
MMS objects
Although MMS is a direct descendant of SMS, the difference in content is dramatic. The size of
an average SMS message is about 140 bytes, while the maximum size of an MMS message is
limited only by the memory. Multimedia Messages will initially be in the range 30k-100kbytes. The
P800 is optimised for messages up to 200kbytes. In the P800 the MMS inbox is only constrained
by the amount of available user storage.