re: Messaging Format Wars - Nokia Smart Messaging
>> Magic4 introduces optional support for Nokia Smart Messaging
Simon Buckingham
Mobile Lifestreams
23 January 2001
Mobile messaging is evolving from SMS (text) to EMS (simple media) to MMS (multimedia). Mobile Lifestreams has been critical of the fact that a format wars between EMS and two other formats has been threatened in the post text, pre multimedia messaging world. Multiple formats complicate message display and handling and creation.
The major handset vendors have all backed different post-text formats- Nokia has smart messaging, a small independent company spun off from Philips- Magic4- has its own post-text format and the 3GPP has standardized the Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) which was originally created by Ericsson.
However, Magic4 has today informed Mobile Lifestreams that their g@te client for handsets will include an OPTIONAL Smart Media Converter (SMC) plug-in for handset manufacturers. If the plug-in is integrated into the handset and smart message originated content is received onto the Magic4 enabled device, the SMC will convert it into a Magic4 format and display/ play the message rather than display an error message such as "incompatible format".
As such, those handset vendors that take Magic4 and the Magic4 SMC option will have a handset that supports both Magic4 and Smart Messaging. And Magic4 has modified its g@te format to comply with but extend the 3GPP Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) too.
To ensure interoperability solutions between the different formats, Mobile Lifestreams has been monitoring a new breed of middleware-oriented platforms from the likes of conVISUAL handling the format conversion. Now Magic4 have come up with a handset-oriented solution where this conversion is handled by the mobile terminal itself to ensure format handling.
The smart messaging plug-in is an OPTION - due to the limited memory and processor of the device amongst other reasons. The SMC plug-in takes about an extra 20K of handset resources.
Nokia originally developed Smart Messaging and announced in December 2000 that it had opened up its smart messaging protocols for licensing to all handset vendors on a royalty free basis. Magic4 have NOT developed SMC in cooperation with Nokia- they see supporting Smart Messaging within g@te as like importing Wordperfect documents into Microsoft Word.
Mobile Lifestreams believes that the best outcome would have been for there to be one post text format that everyone agreed to in the first place. But this was not possible since Nokia was welded firmly to Smart Messaging and some handset vendors needed the help of a dedicated company such as Magic4 to implement these nonvoice services in their phones. Given that three formats do exist, Mobile Lifestreams thinks that solutions such as the Magic4 SMC are inevitable and unavoidable to deliver format interoperability. Mobile Lifestreams therefore welcomes the SMC from Magic4 and encourages all Magic4 licensees to implement it. If some Magic4 licensees take the SMC option and some do not, effectively there becomes another fourth variant of possible terminal functionality deployed in the marketplace. Mobile Lifestreams would encourage handset manufacturers to cooperate to create the market and then they can compete on issues such as design, features and man machine interface to divide it up.
The format wars have not been averted and the customer usefulness and experience is still endangered. But the consumer triumphed over all the barriers that the mobile industry put in its way for SMS such as poor man machine interface and used it anyway, so there is still hope. The Smart Media Converter (SMC) could be magic for Magic4 customers and consumers in general. <<
- Eric - |
