When mobile phones started becoming popular, few people predicted that their ability to send short text messages would be the smashing success that it is. It was such a hit that it became one of the main sources of revenue of telecommunications companies. So mobile phone manufacturers began to design a function that would replace SMS when mobile telephone networks were equipped for faster and more complete transmission of data.

 

The result is MMS, or Multimedia Messaging Service, an application in which images, graphics, video sound and text are sent via a mobile phone. The main recipients of this material are other telephone numbers, but MMS can also sent to e-mail addresses. An MMS is a multimedia presentation in just one package, which means it is not just a text file with data attached.

 

Initially MMS was designed to be used the third-generation UMTS mobile phone technology because it has a wider band for sending images and sound (2 Mbps). But these days mobile phone companies are starting to offer MMS services using GPRS, a technology of transition toward UMTS. GPRS uses current GSM networks and allows sending and receiving of data at a speed of up to 115 kilobits per second. Naturally this means the current version of MMS is significantly inferior to the one that will be introduced with UMTS cell phones. With the latter, thanks to the incorporation of a small video camera, it will be possible to send personalized videos in which the message is sent with voice and image by the sender itself.

 

These days in order to enjoy the full benefits of MMS you need a state of the art cell phone with the MMS function and a color screen. More and more models feature the latter, which shows that manufacturers want to offer users the latest in cell phone services. Some manufacturers are now adding a small digital camera as well. This makes sense with MMS: the idea is that the user captures images with his phone and sends it to friends, family or whoever with MMS, along with a short message.

 

Finally, another characteristic of MMS is that if the intended recipient of a message has a mobile phone that is not compatible with that of the sender or has a black-and-white screen, he or she will instead receive a SMS message with the address of a web site where the multimedia message will be stored. But if the screen allows it, the image might show up on that black-and-white screen.