Mms (Multimedia Messaging Service) - Sony Ericsson P900 White Paper

Messages P900/P9 08 White Paper, December 2003

MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service)

One of the key features in the P900 is the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), rapidly becoming the
preferred messaging method of mobile terminal users, since the ability to send real pictures, video and
sound greatly enhances the messaging experience. An MMS message from the P900 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 combinations 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 standardised 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-100 Kbytes. The P900 is optimized for
messages up to 200 Kbytes. In the P900, the MMS inbox is only constrained by the amount of storage
available internally.
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