MMS: Voice, Camera, Action

Between November and December 2004, one word occupying maximum media space

was multimedia messaging service (MMS). The debate still rages on whether the

issue was hyped by the media or did it really demand so much attention? Whatever

the outcome, the case has helped in creating 'awareness' about an

application that was going unutilized.

MMS is not new and all the GRPS-enabled networks are offering these services.

Same with phones, today most of the GPRS handsets that have a camera, come

loaded with MMS features.

But leave aside using MMS, many mobile users may have not used or even got

their GPRS activated. A Gartner estimate indicates that in 2003, just 5.4

percent of cellular service revenues in India came from wireless data services.

Majority of this came from games, ringtone downloads, and SMS.

However, huge bets have been placed on data services and analysts have been

predicting that SMS is likely to give way to MMS. An IDC quarterly wireless

services tracker predicted, MMS users in the Asia-Pacific region would grow by

over 50 percent in 2004. However, even with this 50 percent rise, MMS users

would represent only 4.3 percent of the total wireless subscribers by the end of

the year 2004.

A Hutch release said an average of 70,000 MMS were exchanged daily on its

network, an increase of 20 times from the average of 3,000 MMSs were exchanged

in February 2003.

In India, the IDC report said, only 0.2 percent of the total mobile

subscribers would be using MMS. Unlike SMS, which spread like wildfire and was

largely responsible for killing the radio paging industry, MMS has not attracted

eyeballs. Reasons: SMS was free initially and MMS is a paid service from the

start, being part of the GPRS offering. Also, though the service offerings are

over the nationwide networks, the usage remains largely confined to the

teenagers in the metros.

Precise

figures are hard to come by. The small percentage of usage makes MMS figures an

unattractive candidate for wide publicity by the service providers. However,

according to an Airtel official, while SMS might account for almost 12 percent

of total revenue over mobile networks, MMS would not be more than one percent in

2004.

Scandals Perk the MMS Phones



For sending any multimedia message, one has to have a GPRS-enabled phone

with the MMS features. Currently, most of the camera-enabled phones are also MMS

enabled. In the last quarter of 2004, the market witnessed a jump in the demand

for camera phones.

"Within a short span of a year, the Indian mobile-phone market

has rapidly changed from a market for plain vanilla phones

into a thriving market for colored screen, application-rich phones. GPRS-enabled

mobile phones and mobile phones with in-built cameras today

constitute 24 percent and 10 percent of the market respectively," says

Nareshchandra Singh, assistant manager, communication research, IDC India.

However, the distributors of handsets say that this did not mean everybody is

looking for an MMS device. Even before the networks were made MMS ready, MMS

phones were available and were being purchased. And even when the GPRS was

activated, these phones were used to click simple pictures that were sent

across. Multimedia messaging was not a priority then.

After the media brought MMS cases to the front pages, the curiosity level has

gone up and people have at least started to experiment with MMS on their phones.

The demand for MMS-enabled phones in the last quarter has gone up by almost 20

percent.

"We were already witnessing rise in demand for camera phones in the

metros. But the two cases gave users an unexplored application and even in B and

C category cities demand for these phones rose," says Manoj Seal, national

product manager, BenQ, Esys Information Technologies.

Broadly the handset market is divided in two parts, the entry-level phones

(ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 8,000) and the high-end sets (Rs 10,000 onwards).

Last year saw almost 40 percent of the first-time buyers preferring high-end

models against the normal trend of 20 percent. Complementing this sale is the

replacement or repeat sale market. According to distributors, almost 70 percent

of the repeat sale is happening for camera- and MMS-enabled phones.

"Mainly teenagers buy these phones. But do not discount professionals....

The sales were already picking up. The scandal has only added fuel to the

sales," said Ajay Kumar, managing director, The Computer Park, a reseller

of Nokia phones.

So would the market flatten out again after the hype dies? Terming the two

MMS cases as stray incidents, Ganesh S Rajan, area manager, Tech Pacific said,

"There is no stopping of technology. MMS camera phone can be used to make

small film documentaries too. IT professionals are using these phones for many

useful purposes.... But the hype has raised the pace of sales."

Apart from the MMS cases, movies like Aitraz, remix song videos, ads, and TV

serials with episodes dedicated to MMS crimes are contributing to the curiosity

of the users. "These have lot of references to camera and MMS phones. And

viewers go to shops looking for these phones," added Manoj.

Besides the curiosity and desire to have the latest, falling prices

and intense marketing drives by the handset vendors are also pushing the

market. Promotion of mobile data services by mobile operators and content

providers has been adding to the demand for these phones.

However, users still have to educated on difference between a video clip and

a MMS clip. The compressed MMS needs more permutation and combinations than SMS

to be actually delivered. Curiosity might drive the sale of these phones for

another couple of months but real test of usage and sale of MMS phones would

come after that.

Anurag Prasad