What is MMS?

1. What is MMS?
For the phone user, MMS is very similar to Short Message Service (SMS)-it provides automatic, immediate delivery of user-created content from phone to phone. The message addressing used is primarily phone numbers, thus the traffic goes from phone to phone. MMS also provides support for e-mail addressing, so that messages can also be sent by e-mail.In addition to the familiar text content of SMS, MMS messages can contain still images, voice or audio clips, and later also video clips and presentation information. An MMS message is a multimedia presentation in a single entry-it is not a text file with attachments.MMS is bearer independent and is not limited to only GSM or WCDMA networks.

2. Is MMS a WAP browser application?
MMS does not use the WAP browser in any way. The MMS application is a messaging application, not a browsing application.Therefore it requires its own user interface, just as SMS does.

3. Is MMS a Nokia proprietary service or a standardized service?
The WAP Forum and 3GPP standardize MMS to make it an open standard. The 3GPP specification defines the network architecture and general functions. The WAP Forum MMS specification defines message encapsulation and application protocols. Existing transport protocols are used for delivery.

4. Does MMS require changes in the network?
MMS is primarily targeted at phone-to-phone traffic. There is always the possibility that the receiving phone is not reachable due to being switched off, having an empty battery or being within poor network coverage. A new network element, the Multimedia Messaging Service Center (MMSC), is needed for storing the MMS messages until the receiving phone is reached. In addition the MMSC hosts a number of interfaces to connecting networks and an API (Application Programming Interface) to enable delivery of value-added services and network interconnection to e-mail, for example. Nokia and several other manufacturers make MMSCs.

5. What content types does MMS support?
The MMS standards do not mandate any specific content formats for MMS. Instead the MMS messages are encapsulated in a standard way, so that the receiving party can identify those content formats it does not support and handle them in a controlled way. This is the way content interoperability is being solved on the Internet, too.The standard recommends the following supported media types: JPEG, GIF, text, AMR voice and some other less-important formats. To achieve interoperability, Nokia and some other manufacturers have agreed upon a MMS Conformance Document that lists the minimum set of content types to be supported by a MMS phone.

6. How big can an MMS message be?
The standard does not specify a maximum size for an MMS message. This is done to ensure future interoperability and to avoid the SMS dilemma, where the 160-character limit has been problematic.The message size is therefore an implementation issue. It is also dependent on operator preferences, if they want to have a standardized message size for billing purposes. Nokia foresees that the MMS messages in the first phase will be between 30 kB and 100 kB in size.

7. How fast is MMS transmission mobile phone -> multimedia messaging service center -> mobile phone?

The MMS transmission is dependent on the message size and the used bearer. The receiving user will not be aware of the ongoing transmission before the whole message has been delivered, he or she will perceive no delay at all! Thus MMS will be perceived as very fast!

8. Can you send MMS messages to phones that do not have the MMS feature?
The Nokia Multimedia Terminal Gateway (TGW) provides support for phones without MMS receive capability. The receiving terminal is identified as a non-MMS phone and instead of sending the MMS message to the phone, the message is stored on a Web page. ASMS with the address to the Web page is sent to the non-MMS phone over SMS.

9. Can you send MMS messages to phones with black-and-white displays?
The main part of the MMS content is expected to be color images. To experience the full MMS experience a color display is required. If a phone has the MMS feature it can in theory receive MMS messages. Several different ways to present color images using dithering on black-and-white displays exist, and to a limited extent a representation of the color image can also be made on a black-and-white display.

10. What does it cost for a phone user to send an MMS message?
Charging of MMS traffic is controlled by the operator. Nokia proposes that MMS should be charged on a transaction basis, exactly as SMS is being charged per message, not per size. It is up to the operators how much to charge for an MMS. Costs in the magnitude of 2-3 times the cost of a SMS have been discussed.