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White Paper T290i/T290c
17 October 2004
New possibilities with messaging
The EMS standard is now a part of the SMS stand-
ard and supported by the major network operators
and mobile phone manufacturers. This universal
approach enables a fast penetration and develop
-
ment of new services and applications within mes-
saging.
Creativity explosion
Users will be inspired to create and swap their own
melodies and pictures. But more importantly, pro
-
fessional content creators and providers are
already preparing to offer imaginative and creative
contents for use with EMS. Based on subscrip
-
tions, fees or ads, network operators will be able to
provide wide ranges of ring signals, operator logos
and corporate icons, as well as personal and
mood-related pictures and melodies. Movie, music
and game companies can promote new products
and events with designer melodies, animations and
pictures.
Huge business potential
Network operators can now enhance their services
and attract more customers by offering pictures,
animations, ring signals and melodies for download
at their portals. Operators can charge more per
EMS message since it contains more data. Thereby
EMS adds more value to the operators and to the
end users.
Increase SMS revenue
EMS uses the same basic network support as ordi-
nary SMS, and with the same familiar user inter-
face. From an operator's point of view, SMS is low
tech because minimal investment is needed to pro
-
vide an effective SMS service to subscribers and
little maintenance is required. EMS will create addi
-
tional revenue for service providers and network
operators by increasing SMS traffic.
Compatible with SMS standards
Users will find EMS as easy to use as SMS. Over
15 billion SMS messages, are sent every month
worldwide. Roughly 80% of this traffic is user-to-
user, i.e. mobile phone users sending short mes
-
sages to each other using the keypad of the phone
to enter text. The remaining 20% is shared by
downloads and notifications of different kinds.
The Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) was first
submitted to the standards committees by Erics
-
son. Ericsson presented the outline structure of
EMS to the relevant ETSI/ 3GPP committees. The
major mobile phone manufacturers and most oper
-
ators are actively contributing to the 3GPP stand-
ards. Hence the EMS standards have evolved and
are now stable and complete as part of the 3rd
Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical
specification.
An EMS message can be sent to a mobile phone
that does not support EMS, or only supports part
of EMS. All the EMS elements i.e. text formatting,
pictures, animations and sounds are located in the
message header. The EMS contents will be ignored
by a receiving phone that does not support the
standard. Only the text message will be displayed
to the receiver. This is true consumer-friendly
standardization. EMS is compatible to SMS across
most of the range of mobile phones from the oldest
to the newest.
Some companies in the mobile phone industry
have developed their own messaging technologies,
which only work with their own phone models. Net
-
work operators are in favor of EMS because it is
universal – many of the major mobile phone manu
-
facturers are constructively improving and develop-
ing the EMS standards even further for
implementation in their products.
Examples of EMS contents and
applications
A wide range of contents, applications and serv-
ices may be developed. Below is a list of examples
and areas where messaging can be enhanced with
EMS.
User-to-user message
Messages usually originating from the keypad of a
mobile phone can include pictures, melodies, and
formatted text with EMS.
Voice and email notifications
Notifying mobile phone users that they have new
voice or fax mail messages waiting - including
icons or melodies with EMS.