MMS market analysis
Today, multimedia SMS has been seen as a new profit point, but it is necessary to develop like today's text messages like today may not be so easy, and many questions are resolved.
1. The first network problem
MMS business requires a multimedia information center --- MMSC, MMSC usually requires applications to various second-generation and third-generation networks. MMSC usually exists as an independent network element, which is relatively independent with the existing NE, and therefore, in the process of evolving from the second generation mobile communication network, MMSC should be smoothed, so A lot of benefits can be brought to operators in terms of maintaining the stability of network operation and protection of investment.
In implementation, multimedia messaging services do not depend on which generation mobile network, which can be provided in 2G, 2.5G, and 3G mobile networks. However, due to the service transfer content on network bandwidth, transmission speed, and mobile terminals, only the features of MMS business can only be given to the 3G network, and users may enjoy the benefits of MMS. Of course, MMS can use 2.5G GPRS network, but whether MMS adapts to 2.5G network is still unknown. This brings a lot of pressure to the network operators, and it has brought great pressure to the development of 3G.
From the situation of currently trial operation, MMS does not have a good interconnection, and the channel is blocked and there is a case where the SMS is frequently errors. When the user sends a short message, there often appear "SMS send failed" tips, In fact, sometimes the other party has received a short message, so that the sender has added the cost of repeatedly inadvertently increasingly. Therefore, mobile operators should update their technology in time to solve the problem of channel clogging.
2. MMS principle and its restriction
Like SMS, EMS, MMS also uses "storage forwarding" transmission mechanisms. The so-called "reunion" mechanism refers to the transfer of a SMS, and must be swap servers (in the MMS system, the server is named MMS Center, referred to as MMSC). The server determines that the text message is stored or forwarded to the destination. In the case of SMS, in the architecture of the MMS service system, Internet / Intranet (Internet / Internal Network) has become an important part. The MMS content service part is completely connected to MMSC through the Internet.
Since the MMS is used along the "storage forwarding" mechanism of SMS, the MMS also delays even the information is delayed. But the integration with the Internet has made MMS's service types more rich, and SP and operators have lower operating costs in terms of content and services. In addition, MMS uses a SMIL language similar to HTML to arrange SMS content. This allows SP to develop a simple tool to develop graphic and equipped with MMS SMS for sound or sound. Effectively reduce the production cost of MMS content.
MMS can run in 2G, 2.5G, and 3G mobile networks. Therefore, the size of the MMS SMS is limited by the network transmission rate. On the current GPRS network, 3GPP-related specifications It is recommended that the size of a MMS SMS should not exceed 30kB, soon, it is expected to increase to 100KB. Such a small single capacity determines that MMS is unlikely to play songs such as playing a MP3 sound quality, watching a movie such a movie. Its main application range will limit the photos, play no more than 10 frames, 5 seconds, and the video is similar to PowerPoint documents, and so on.
3. Compatibility
There are a lot of mobile phones that support EMS on the market, and the mobile phones that support MMS, and different brands are often unable to send pictures and sounds. The pictures and sound formats supported by each brand phone are different, which greatly limits the popularity of MMS. So, is MMS to have a solution?
In February this year, Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, Siemens, Logo, CMG, etc., leadership manufacturers, such as "MMS Conformance Document" ("MMS Consistency Document"). This document specifies the basic format of the content in the MMS. According to this document, the picture format is specified as JPEG, GIF and a special BMP format, and the picture is up to 160 × 120 pixels. The sound format of MMS is unified as AMR format, and AMR is proposed by the European Communications Standardization Committee and is used by 3GPP. It is the most widely speech format in the mobile communication system. MMS also uses this format as a sound standard. Currently, the AMR converter provided by Ericsson can easily convert the sound files in the WAV format to WAV files. (This tool file can be downloaded after http://mobilityworld.ericsson.com.cn/development/download_hit.asp.)
In general, the MMS has been widely discussed during the start of the EMS stage. Late a certain basis for its compatibility. In terms of ordinary MMS applications, there should be no problem with interoperability between different brands of mobile phones. However, it is inevitable that various manufacturers will launch special content services in custom formats. The services of this type will inevitably be like EMS, and can only use the same brand's mobile phone.
4. Limitations of mobile phones
Developing MMS must consider the problem of mobile phones, and mobile phones have great hindrance to MMS.
(1) Currently, although a few manufacturers have launched a color screen mobile phone that supports multimedia business, it is difficult to accept by consumers from all aspects of price, style, and must be accepted by the majority of low-end users, especially the prepaid users. Mobile phone, MMS can have a wide range of users. The current price of MMS mobile phones is too high, exceeding the abilities of most users. If the mobile phone manufacturer does not produce low price, new mobile phones, which will seriously hinder the large area promotion of MMS. It is estimated that at least 2004 may be a relatively large scale and change.
(2) If the screen of the two sides is different, the SMS center will make the corresponding processing, which will affect the quality of the information. In addition, the problem of mobile screen is also like WAP wireless Internet access. Since the screen is still limited, the photo taken by the digital camera is also limited by the screen. If it is a video clip, the affected impact is greater.
(3) Mobile phone settings are also more troublesome in terms of the use of mobile phones. Through China Mobile and China Unicom customer service center feedback, more than 75% of users think that mobile phone settings are an obstacle, so it is necessary to reduce the use threshold. From the development of SMS, it can be seen that users can enjoy this service without replacing mobile phones, and it is difficult to imagine that most users will replace their mobile phones in order to use MMS business, especially for low-end users.
(4) Now the mobile phone is getting less and smaller is the trend of mobile phone development. Then the phone's keyboard is getting smaller and smaller. Do people "adapt" this small keyboard? Especially for developed countries, such as the United States, Canada, etc. I 3 Mobile has done such a survey: "Do you want to access information and communications through the way of mobile devices?" The results show that most people, especially the Americans don't like to use small mobile phone keyboards, if they must When you use SMS services, they prefer to use the computer to send this text message. And for such mobile phone users, using mobile phones, most interested is not using mobile phones to send text messages, but mobile call services for mobile phones. So this investigation undoubtedly brought a heavy blow to the development of MMS. For users of more backward developing countries, it is still interested in the current SMS, whether it is interested in MMS, or unknown.
MMS's terminal equipment will not be in a glance, and development may not be very fast. Therefore, in the early stage of the MMS business, considering the gradual launch of multimedia business phones, the first user group is high-end business user group, but with a large number of listed support for multimedia business mobile phones, young users have gradually recognized Business, this can be seen from the current Internet e-year, logo download, MP3 music, RealPlay, and other multimedia applications, these applications can be transplanted to mobile networks through multimedia information gateways. 5. MMS charging problem
Can MMS have achieved success in people's expectations, and is also closely related to the tariff strategy of mobile farmholders. An important factor in SMS business can succeed is its low price, which is much cheaper than calling. Send a text message is just 0.1 yuan, even temporarily without fees, and the most direct result is in addition to inspiring huge market potential, it also caused the user to generate recognition and form "pay culture."
Is there such a good thing in the age of MMS SMS? Obviously it is not. Because MMS SMS wants to handle and transmit data, it is much more much higher than that of plain text, the MMS's tariffs not only include the cost of line transfer, but also a copyright fee of many pictures, video and other aspects. Therefore, the tariff of the MMS service should be diversified, and it may be necessary to charge according to the content transmitted by the user. So the charge will not be so cheap like now SMS SMS.
There is an analysis that reasonable prices should be 3 or 4 times more than SMS, but there are signs that China Mobile MMS will exceed this standard. MMS is as high as SMS, consumers must pay for money, so the cost is still a problem. In terms of tariff, operators should be careful, do not brush, consumers pursue fashion enthusiasm. Mobile operators should make a set of simple, clear MMS price policies.
6. Interconnection issues
Because the MMS standard is not unified, this will make a lot of work between the mobile terminal to solve the problem. Extreme examples, even in the GPRS system, there may not be possible to send information between two different brands of phones. At the same time, MMS intercommunication between China Mobile and China Unicom can not be resolved in the short term. At the beginning of the year, eight mobile device suppliers, including Ericsson, Nokia, established an MMS interoperability forum to promote the development of MMS globally, and the main work is to solve interoperability between MMS phones and compatibility issues.
7. Network merchants hesitation
Since MMS will encounter various problems, those who hope to use MMS to make money also adopt the attitude of "waiting for", such as I3 Mobile, think that although MMS enters our life is inevitable, but to be in depth like SMS The heart needs a longer process, let alone the SMS, EMS to drive away, completely occupying the entire market. So not only I3 Mobile has such an idea. Developers as MMS service equipment will definitely slow down, and will gradually develop new services according to market demand, and will not be over. Michael Forbes, Vice President of I3 Mobile Mastering, MiChael Forbes, believes that now is the urgent need to pay attention to existing services and have markets. Therefore, the network merchants are not very positive, and will directly affect the development of MMS.
8. Problems in end users
There is an analysis that it is too easy to optimize the use of SMS's habit user groups. Because SMS is currently useful for inexpensive information, MMS is embedded in a higher level of application, establishing a key user base necessary to conduct interpersonal MMS communication, at least one and a half years. The maturity of the MMS market still takes a lot of time.
9. Question of service content
MMS's service content is also a big problem that cannot be ignored. MMS has a personalized feature that must provide rich information content to attract users. To drive the successful application of MMS, you must rely on three aspects: entertainment, graphics, point-to-point application. To allow end users to share entertainment and graphics information with others: Willing to use existing content yourself to create multimedia news; would like to download a variety of MMS content, such as sports pictures, cartoons, entertainment, etc., so that MMS can be used. Industry insiders said, although the current technology and infrastructure construction is not a problem, MMS still lacks substantive service content. The MMS's largest feature is to support multimedia functions. In addition to delivery between mobile phones, the transfer mode can also be transmitted between the phone and the computer. Obviously operators have draws a good application prospect, but content developers have not launched how much attractive features and is confident in this. If multimedia is just a simple superposition, plus a cumbersome manner, it is impossible to win the gather of the consumer. Moreover, the details of the MMS value-added business today are still unclear, and the user is unclear about how to order business, how to cancel business. In addition, the interface to the value-added business is not determined that the Standards organization is still developing, which will cause the MMS value-added business to carry out the initial period of slowness.
In short, there are many reasons for affecting MMS. So whether the development of MMS is fierce? In fact, the new things are inevitable in replacing the old things, and it is also a trend of history. However, if MMS wants to occupy the entire market, it may still have a long time, slowly wait!
However, there are so many advantages of MMS, then its future is not an estimated. There are still many people who express optimistic on MMS, Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, CMG, Comverse Technology and Logica, the world's largest 7 mobile phone manufacturers and SMS service equipment manufacturers, determination together, develop and promote The development of MMS makes it a new favorite in the wireless world. Simon Buckingham, CEO of Research Institutions Mobile Streams, said that like the operating system on the PC is the same as the Windows transition from DOS, MMS will be an important milestone from text mode to multimedia mode.
In general, SMS revenue accounts for 10% of the total operator's total income. Therefore, the prospect of multimedia SMS will also be very optimistic. From the existing cases, KDDI as an example, in the early days of launching multimedia SMS, users increase more than 3 million. Japan's original third largest operator J-Phone has launched the SHA-MAIL picture mail service in a short period of time only to NTT. It is important to see how important information services, especially multimedia information services, especially multimedia information services.
It is expected that the MMS phones produced later have a color screen and support high-speed network. This allows users to transfer photos between digital cameras and mobile phones, so users can send photos to an email user or other mobile phone users who support MMS standards. With the development of technology, it is entirely possible with MMS instead of e-mail. At that time, the user will not be limited by the time and place, and you can receive an email at any time. In short, the MMS mobile phone will bring users a new mobile phone communication method to fully feel the fun of communications.
So, should mobile multimedia services want to succeed, depends on what? We can compare a chair for a three legs, there are three aspects: one of course the network, one is the terminal, the most critical is the application.
◆ GPRS is the "General Packet Radio Server" in English, is a new type of packet data transfer network introduced based on the existing GSM network, which is a recognized 2.5-generation mobile communication technology. The inevitable link evolves from the GSM to the 3G system. Enable: Real-time online, fast login, high-speed transmission, billing, online call, two incorrectly, etc. Some said that GPRS is "Mobile Broadband", which is true, GPRS's theoretical transmission speed can reach 171.2kbps, the actual transmission speed is affected by network coding mode and terminal support, its access speed is about 30kbps --- 40kbps, speed The improvement makes multimedia applications possible. The GPRS network is charged in accordance with the number of customers receives and transmits the packet. If there is no data transmission, even if it is hung online, it is not charged. ◆ Mobile operators also need a wide variety of mobile terminals while launching new network service services, and meets the needs of different customers. So use the GPRS business, of course, you need to support GPRS. There are more than 10 GPRS phones on the market. From the terminal, you can see several obvious trends: color screens, upgrades with digital cameras, audio technology, based on Java technology, multiple browsers, etc. These new trends will become reality in the second half of this year.
◆ The network is open, and the terminal equipment has also gradually enriched, then GPRS-based applications become the key to the profitability of operators. Currently, "killer application" on GPRS is the multimedia information service service (MMS). At China Mobile's "Dream Network" 2002 mobile Dream Network business show, China Mobile and Hong Kong CSL use Nokia 7650 mobile phone to demonstrate an exciting new generation of multimedia information services, including photos and multimedia information. Intermittence.
The development of MMS will experience two phases:
The first phase will focus mainly on the terminal of the terminal on the terminal. Even if the value-added business is carried out, the terminal will occupy the main part of the MMS traffic like SMS as SMS.
The second phase is the development period of the value-added application of MMS. In the early days of MMS value-added business development, it is mainly a variety of still graphics: such as pictures, photos, screensavers, greetings, ringtones, etc. Through these applications, users develop habits downloaded from the wireless network, expressed in a variety of ways such as graphics, animation, sound, and no longer text. On this basis, daily news and entertainment, add interactive cartoon, intelligence tests, etc., allow users to experience colorful content and services in traditional Internet on wireless networks.
In short, MMS is
◆ End users
The ability to shoot, edit, and send photos allow users to enhance personal communication by quickly sharing information. In addition, as a convenient commercial information exchange tool, it can also greatly improve the user's work efficiency. Other applications, such as downloading local city maps during travel or receive images or plan views in the meeting, will enable users to be able to retrieve over individual and commercial life. Using terminals to terminals and terminals to email functions, MMS can also be used as a virtual email client that allows users to overcome many shortcomings of traditional emails, such as software complex, and limited access methods.
◆ Network Operations Company
Multimedia information services can increase air hours, allowing users to use the network more fully, realize service differentiation, and improve user loyalty - all of this is a key factor in improving network operational revenue. This new information transfer platform will make full use of GPRS and WCDMA broadband technologies to make MMS services more widely.
◆ Service and content provider
Multimedia information applications will promote new business and content. The diversity of new business and demand for new content will ensure that the benefits of service and content providers continue to grow.
From a long-term perspective, MMS's development is inevitable, but like a fixed network broadband application, this market requires operators and every link in the value chain to cultivate the market and users, rather than "one night. The process of seeing efficiency. That is, the user's demand for MMS is huge, and the development of the business will depend on operators and the effectiveness of the parties. If you want to develop the MMS business, you must have a good business model, attract more industries and more traditional enterprises to enter this area, only all links work together to make this business truly develop, users can get more good service. At present, MMS is working standardization. When MMS development is complete, the following format will be supported:
Image - JPEG, GIF89A, WBMP
Video - ITU-TH.263, MPEG4 (simple file)
Audio - MP3, MIDI, WAV, AMR / EFR (for speech)
I believe that with MMS standardization completed and has a large number of mobile phones with MMS function, MMS will enter the public life with 3G networks. The merchant believes that at that time, with the demand for video display, video SMS communications will appear in the way of value-added services, all business opportunities!
