OXFORD, United Kingdom-Seemingly learning little from what drove short message service (SMS) into being such an unexpected revenue earner-network interconnection-U.K. cell-phone operators are only now focusing on the fact that users of multimedia message service (MMS) will demand the ability to send pictures to other users, regardless of the particular network.
While MMS-capable cell phones have been sold in the United Kingdom since mid-2002, MmO2 has confirmed that users will probably have to wait another six months before full interconnection is available with the other three U.K. network operators. This somewhat relaxed approach to injecting life into MMS has not stopped MmO2 from forecasting that its customers will have purchased more than 200,000 picture phones by the time interconnection agreements have been signed.
Potential MMS users, unwilling to wait for the likes of MmO2, could consider using a new service just launched by Now Wireless, which claims to enable users to send picture messages to subscribers on any other network. According to the company, the NowMMS service is provided free, as long as users agree to receive a limited number of MMS adverts.
However, underneath this claim something more complex lurks. The service apparently operates by sending an SMS notification of an MMS to users on different networks to the sender, and this initiates a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) connection to collect the MMS content via the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). Regardless of these technical complications, Now Wireless said it has reached agreement with operators in the United Kingdom, T-Mobile in the United States and SFR in France.
