Messaging Multiplies

BYLINE: MIKE DANO

Truly, messaging is becoming an integral part of the wireless industry.

Observers last week were witness to a wide range of messaging announcements and business moves, all evidence of the increasing importance of wireless messaging in the future of the industry.

In fact, research and consulting firm Ovum places such importance on messaging that it predicts short message services, multimedia messaging and instant messaging, as well as other messaging services, will in five years account for a whopping two-thirds of the revenues carriers generate from non-voice services.

''Our conclusion is that this is really an important service,'' said John Delaney, an Ovum senior analyst. Today the future of messaging is beginning to unfold. Wireless equipment vendors, SMS infrastructure providers and platform developers are jumping into the fray in an effort to cash in on what is considered a potentially giant business.

Openwave Systems Inc. is the latest in a string of such companies. The wireless Internet software vendor last week introduced its MMS infrastructure product, which is part of the company's instant messaging, e-mail and unified communications product portfolio. Openwave touted its open-standards approach to MMS, citing its support for WAP and Third Generation Partnership Project standards.

Openwave said it is testing the MMS product with several wireless operators, including Genie, the wireless Internet portal of MmO2.

''MMS is more like Internet messaging than it is SMS,'' explained Francisco Kattan, Openwave's director of product marketing. ''This gives us a huge advantage.''

Kattan said that Openwave has a vast amount of experience supporting Internet protocol-based systems. He said the rest of the company's messaging products are IP-based, which puts Openwave in the lead in terms of IP experience. Also, all of Openwave's messaging products can interconnect because they are all based on the same technology. Further, Kattan said Openwave is one of the only companies that has working knowledge of multimedia messaging. He said Japan's J-Phone is using a modified version of the company's wireless e-mail product to support its picture messaging service, which allows wireless users to send digital pictures to friends and family.

''It has very compelling benefits for the end user and the carrier,'' Kattan said.

While Openwave works to sell its new MMS product, other MMS players have been making some significant gains. Just this month, CMG Wireless Data Solutions won a major contract to provide Hutchison 3G with a range of messaging services, from SMS to MMS. Multimedia mainstay Nokia Corp. will offer its MMS services through a recently signed deal with Sonera Corp. And not to be left out, SMS giant Logica moved last week to bolster its MMS offerings and entice more carrier customers by teaming with BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Ltd. to develop multimedia messaging applications for the corporate market. The company also teamed with Xdrive Technologies to allow desktop users to send MMS messages to wireless phones, and it announced an MMS development kit for Java handset vendors.

But as companies like Nokia, CMG and Logica vie for control over the market, Ovum's Delaney said L.M. Ericsson has taken the early lead. The company just a few weeks ago scored a massive MMS contract with Vodafone Group plc to provide multimedia services across Europe.

As multimedia messaging takes center stage in Europe, many analysts agree that wireless instant messaging likely will play a larger role in the United States. Along these lines, a group of the nation's largest vendors teamed last year to develop wireless IM standards in hopes of evading the interoperability problems plaguing the wired IM world.

Last week, the group, Wireless Village, released its version 1.0 specifications for wireless instant messaging, prompting a range of new product and service announcements from Wireless Village members.

The standards group said the specifications will allow universal interoperability between wireless and wired instant messaging. The new specifications will allow users to send instant messages among mobile phones, personal digital assistants, personal computers and servers using products from participating members. The specifications cover transport technologies from short message service to WAP to HTTP.

The specifications also include support for presence applications, which the group said will allow users to control how they are reached and by whom. For example, business users trapped in meetings could specify text-only messages instead of voice calls. Analysts have pointed to presence functions as a potentially major messaging application.

Among the group's more than 100 members, several announced new products or support for the version 1.0 specifications. Motorola, along with messaging partner Personity Inc., officially launched its Motorola Messenger system, which the company said offers users a variety of instant messaging services, from chat rooms to presence capability. Fellow handset maker and Wireless Village member Ericsson launched its Instant Messaging and Presence Server, which the company said allows customers to view presence information, share content and join in community chats, regardless of their devices. Others announcing products or support for the specifications included Invertix Corp., Openwave, Ecrio and OZ Communications Inc.

Wireless Village's instant messaging specifications include support for multimedia messaging services, and many Wireless Village members offer complementary and interoperable MMS and IM products.

Ovum's Delaney said messaging, both multimedia and instant, will play a major role in helping carriers get a return on their network investments, which in some cases runs into the billions of dollars. However, he said carriers will also run the risk of losing their hold on their customers by offering messaging content.

''The mobile operators have everything to lose,'' Delaney said.

To offer successful messaging services, carriers must team with third-party content providers. But if the carriers aren't careful, their roles in the value chain could be curtailed to a simple pipe through which content flows to customers. Delaney offered broadcast TV services as an example. Viewers don't care where the transmission comes from; they're only interested in what's on the screen.

But beyond the carrier role in the equation, Delaney said messaging applications will likely drive the development of other distinct types of applications. For example, he said, wireless games and advertising could benefit from messaging technology, allowing gamers to view animations and sound or advertisers to display their logos in color.

Messaging ''is really being pushed very heavily indeed,'' Delaney said.

November 18, 2004