MMS hampered by compatibility issues - report
Multimedia messaging will quickly evolve from a high-end, niche application to a consumer application geared toward the mass market. This will be driven mostly by decreasing handset prices. As this occurs, users will decide what applications of multimedia messaging make the most sense to them. Most likely the mass market users will gravitate toward pictures they create themselves and share with other mobile users. However, introducing multimedia messaging services unleashes a host of complex problems which impacts the entire wireless industry, according to a new study published by The Shosteck Group.
"A key issue which concerns us is whether the industry will understand the nature of the multimedia messaging opportunity and execute for optimal profit," stated Jane Zweig, CEO of The Shosteck Group. "End-users will always choose an application which enhances their ability to communicate with others, over other applications - contributing to a 'community effect.' This has profound implications for network operators and vendor requirements for pricing, hardware availability, supporting services and content, and interoperability."
"Adoption timelines for multimedia messaging have been strongly influenced by the political activities of GSM and CDMA supporters," commented Rich Luhr, Director of Technology Strategy of The Shosteck Group. "When the standard for MMS was being developed, there was talk about how it could be 'RF agnostic.' In other words, the protocols and technologies developed for MMS on GSM could theoretically be suitable for GSM/GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, PDC and CDMA networks. Universal adoption of an MMS standard could have streamlined the introduction of interoperable multimedia messaging around the world."
However, as Mr. Luhr observed, things have not worked out that way.
"Not only have Japanese and Korean operators developed and implemented their own technologies for multimedia messaging, but the CDMA faction of the wireless industry is finalizing a separate standard for MMS under the umbrella of the 3GPP2. None of these are directly compatible with the 3GPP standard. Moreover, the Open Mobile Alliance, which was supposed to unify MMS and other technologies for the benefit of all, faces strong challenges to accomplishing its mission in a timely fashion," he said.
Ms. Zweig points out, "MMS requires devices to be able to retrieve multimedia messages and negotiate capabilities with the network servers, but it does not specify how images received and stored on the device should be catalogued, compressed, deleted, or downloaded to other devices (PCs or PDAs), nor how MMS will integrate with client-side execution platforms such as J2ME and BREW. These omissions will prove important, and will contribute overall to barriers for end-user value."
"In the absence of clear standards for client-side implementation (particularly user interfaces), each mobile phone manufacturer, each model of phone, each execution environment, and even each software application developer can offer what appears from the user perspective to be a unique implementation of MMS. Wireless subscribers will not have the benefit of a common approach to MMS, much less a common user interface ('look and feel'). This is a formula for confusion," she continued.
Key to the uptake of multimedia messaging services -- both in terms of operator revenues and end-user value -- is the availability and cost of phones which provide value. Color phones with integrated cameras will be essential. "Operators are viewing camera phones as the 'Holy Grail' of next generation services," observed Ms. Zweig. "Thus, camera phones are becoming pivotal to the hopes of operators for raising ARPU. Operators in Japan and Korea, which are promoting camera phones to the exclusion of all others, are already more than doubling their data ARPU," she continued.
This is putting pressure on manufacturers to discontinue the separate categories of colour and color-camera, in favor of the latter. This transition to only colour-camera phones will be facilitated as components drop in price - a transition by no later than 2007 and plausibly as early as 2005. In fact, during 2006, Shosteck foresee's that virtually all (92%) of color phones will include cameras. This will be triggered by demand from operators combined with competition among manufacturers. Recognition of this phenomenon explains why Japanese and Korean vendors are directing their efforts toward dominating the camera-phone market," she said.
"Given a 12 to 18 month leadership in producing camera phones, together with their proliferation of new models, we foresee that the Japanese and Koreans will succeed brilliantly. They may not take second and first place. But surely they will take market share," stated Ms. Zweig. "And the challenges will increase. Taiwanese and Chinese vendors are positioning themselves to capture greater share of the local market and to use it as a base from which to become global competitors. They will relentlessly reduce prices to gain market share. The Japanese, Korean and Chinese manufacturers are setting up a fierce new battleground for market leaders Nokia, Motorola, and Siemens," she concluded.
cellular-news.com |
