Monday, May 19, 2003		Feature

MMS strikes roots in India
Peeyush Agnihotri

SURELY, technology mutates faster than a microbe. Barely has the euphoria of SMS died down that a new concept looms large on the tech-horizon. That of MMS.

Short for multimedia message service, MMS has been in news of late. World Cup ads hovered around convincing cricket-crazy family’s head into marrying off his daughter to a ‘networked’ lover. In real life, reports indicate that an enterprising photographer operating from a Mumbai hospital offers to click and send the photo of the newborn to relatives as MMS for Rs 50 per message. That’s the power of MMS.

Concept

MMS is a store and forward method of transmitting graphics, video clips, sound files and short text messages over wireless networks using WAP protocol. Carriers deploy special servers, dubbed MMS Centres (MMSCs), for this. Images can be downloaded to mobile phones from WAP-enabled sites. They can also be stored for use later on. MMS supports .gif and .jpeg image formats, MPEG4 video formats and MP3 and MIDI audio formats. In a nutshell, text, graphics, audio, images and video, almost anything can be sent. For an end-user, it works just like SMS. Compose a message, insert a picture, send and wait for the confirmation. At the other end, the receiver opens it after getting an indication that a message has been received. The interaction is between the user’s mobile device and MMSC. The channel of communication is either GPRS (General Packet Radio Switching) or UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System). MMS is quite different from SMS, the foremost distinguishing feature being colour. While SMS are black-and-white, plain and text-based messages (not exceeding 160 characters), MMS enables a user to send a big message with pictures. The user can also edit and add text to captured pictures.

Cost

Right now the customers are either being charged on per message basis, internationally or by the amount of data transferred. Moves are afoot to implement a flat rate and the Mobile MMS Forum suggests that the rate three times that for one SMS would be judicious enough for one MMS message. According to a white paper published by Nokia recently, "the same service pricing principles, where the sender pays a fixed fee per message sent, should apply."

Impediments

According to Parijat Chakraborty, Head, Telecom Research, IDC (India) Limited, "MMS and other data services are not likely to be something to be used by common people in coming two or three years in India".

Still being in nascent stage, with the lack of proper infrastructure support at service provider’s end, MMS messages can get ridiculously late. This can be attributed to low bandwidth. Then the costs involved at present are high. MMS-enabled handsets cost nearly Rs 10,000 and loaded ones soar over Rs 20,000. Even service providers are not giving it cheap. Costs may escalate depending on the usage. Add to it the standardisation issues. There has to be compatibility between MMS service providers. Industry sources say despite all hoopla surrounding MMS, barely 6,000 Mumbai subscribers, out of a base of 6 lakh customers with a particular cellphone service provider, opted for this service till date. IDC (India) predicts that MMS may not make as strong a wave as SMS in a price-sensitive market like India. Even in advanced countries like the UK, an ICM survey points out that while nearly 80 per cent of mobile phone users acknowledged the presence of MMS, barely 25 per cent agreed to use it. The rest did not prefer it.

Current scene

Then it won’t be fair to write an obit of MMS while it is still in cradle. Research suggests otherwise, too. HPI Research Group that carried out a survey in the UK, Japan, the USA, Germany, Singapore and Finland, predicts MMS is set to repeat the success of SMS messaging. Respondents expressed great interest in downloadable services like travel information, news, games and screensavers. The study also suggested these MMS-based services will capture traditional media spend for specific services, such as breaking news, travel, weather reports from television, the Internet and other media.

According to Nokia, SMS gave in a revenue of Rs 24,000 crore per month in 2002 globally and the MMS market itself will be worth Rs 96,000 crore by 2006. In Chandigarh, there has been a 20 per cent increase in the sale of MMS-enabled handsets in last two months. Nearly 10 handsets of top brands have hit the North Indian market. (see Latest Offering section, Page 3, for some of the popular handsets). Jyoti Parkash, a Chandigarh-based dealer, says that those not opting for MMS based cellphones now may soon feel left out. AirTel, Hutch, Idea Cellular, BPL — all major players have introduced MMS for GPRS handsets. Reliance’s CDMA-based phones are already cashing in on ‘kabhi mobile, kabhi computer’ concept.

For Airtel, the only GSM operator to have launched such service in this region, MMS stands for ‘Masala Messaging Service.’ They charge Rs 5 each for outgoing or incoming message, both. Rival Spice is on verge of doing it within a month or so. "We want to get in the market with best infrastructure and technology," a Spice official says while evading a direct query on the approximate date of their MMS launch. "Very soon," is all he has to say.

Utilities

Who won’t prefer a colourful live message to a drab textual one? Surely, with MMS around everyone can play around with pictures, listen to music and play games. Nokia has even created an online MMS club at www.club.nokia.com. MMS can be a boon. You can share experiences with a wide number of MMS-enabled friends and family members with a hitherto unknown degree of immediacy and convenience. It can also be a bane, in case a suspicious wife wants to see the boss as an MMS image when an adulterous husband insists that it is his office-work that is keeping him away from her.