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Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)


What is MMS?

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a new standard in mobile messaging. Like SMS (Short Messaging Service), MMS is a way to send a message from one mobile to another. The difference is that MMS can include not just text, but also sound, images and video. It is also possible to send MMS messages from a mobile phone to an email address.

Formats that can be embedded within MMS include:

• Text (formatted with fonts, colours, etc)
• Images (JPEG, GIF format)
• Audio (MP3, MIDI)
• Video (MPEG)

Images could be downloaded from WAP sites, selected from a menu within the phone, or could even be photos taken using a built-in camera if the phone has one (e.g. the Nokia 7650, Sony Ericsson T300, etc).

MMS is an extension of the SMS protocol, making its usage familiar to existing SMS users. An MMS message is a single entity, not a collection of attachments. One of the main practical differences between MMS and SMS is that whilst SMS messages are limited to 160 bytes, an MMS message has no size limit and could be many Kbytes in size, or even larger. MMS requires a third generation (3G) network to enable such large messages to be delivered, although smaller messages can be sent even with second generation networks using GPRS.

Whilst mobile phone users can create and send their own MMS messages, perhaps the biggest use of MMS is likely to be companies sending MMS messages to subscribers, enquirers or customers. For example, a company could send visitors an MMS map to help them find their office. Other possible applications include weather reports, news & sport bulletins, etc.

The first MMS capable phones started to appear in 2002, and the standard looks set to become very widely used in the years ahead. Different manufacturers are introducing MMS technologies in different ways. For example, Nokia are introducing MMS directly into their latest phones, whilst Sony Ericsson is introducing phones that have EMS (Enhanced messaging Service). EMS is a halfway house between SMS and MMS, providing some of the features of MMS (e.g. formatted text, simple pictures, simple audio such as ringtones, and even some animation). EMS is a technology that is designed to work with existing networks, but will ultimately be made obsolete by MMS.