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Europe SMS & MMS Market
Frost & Sullivan, Sep 2004
MMS Struggling to Gain Mass Acceptance and Increase Mobile Data Revenues
Mobile operators’ decision to include multimedia messaging services (MMS) in their portfolio stemmed from the need to combat the growing competition and saturation in the short messaging services (SMS) market. However, the initial hype surrounding MMS as a superior delivery mechanism for premium entertainment services and its ability to complement SMS and augment the existing revenue streams for mobile operators has fallen short of expectations. Overcoming several technical and commercial challenges such as network interoperability and high prices is critical for MMS to gain mass acceptance. Having removed the obstacles to success, mobile operators can count on MMS to increase the average revenue per user (ARPU), expand market share and reduce the customer churn rate.
This Frost & Sullivan research examines the potential of MMS in expanding the revenue and growth of mobile messaging services. This study discusses the prevailing market challenges and provides strategic recommendations to overcome them. It also examines the current social, regulatory and technological trends related to the SMS and MMS market and their impact on revenue potential.
Proliferation of Handsets with Integrated Camera Drives Popularity of MMS
SMS is likely to dominate the mobile messaging market for person-to-person (P2P) messaging since it scores over MMS in terms of simplicity, accessibility and ease-of-use. However, with the increasing interest in mobile handsets with colour-screens and integrated cameras mobile operators visualise a brighter future for MMS. The success of SMS has only boosted mobile operators’ confidence in developing MMS on a larger scale, says the analyst. With the emergence of multimedia phones, MMS is being viewed as an extension of P2P messaging wherein customers can also send instant photos. Moreover, camera phones with mega pixel resolutions promise to deliver higher-quality photos and create additional opportunities for MMS in medical imaging applications.
MMS Serves as the Ideal Platform to Develop New Applications
MMS is not limited to photo messaging and offers a platform for creating new types of applications that add a rich visual feel to many of the services already offered by SMS, explains the analyst. Mobile operators must, therefore, position MMS as a primarily fun and personal content application.
In this regard, MMS is likely to thrive on the application-to-person messaging traffic. Mobile operators need to leverage the MMS capabilities to develop interactive revenue generating services such as cartoons, movie trailers, ‘buddy finder’ and virtual pet caretaker. In addition, mobile operators must ensure that potential customers are aware of the advantages that MMS provides in terms of advanced message management, delivery, redirection, storage and notification.
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