Multimedia Message Service (MMS)

Description

MMS is an extension to SMS that allows messages to mobile phones to contain text, graphics, photos, animations, audio, and video clips. An MMS message is a single, completely contained entity, not a text message with attachments.

The WAP Forum and the 3rd Generation Partnership Program (3GPP) have made MMS an open standard, so it is not dependent on a single technology company. MMS is supported by all of the major handset manufacturers, including Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, and Motorola.

Usage

The Messaging Platform can push messages via MMS or allow customers to pull messages via MMS, making it an interactive channel. Messages can be pushed at a certain day and time or when a certain event occurs. A stock broker might send an intraday stock index chart to customers twice a day, during the middle of market hours and after market close; it might also send an unscheduled message when trading volume exceeds some threshold. The firm might also allow customers to request charts on demand by sending an SMS (e.g., "CHART IDAY DJIA") to the platform.

As with SMS, we do not recommend using MMS for commercial transactions since it cannot guarantee timely deliveries. A customer sending an order via MMS or SMS could have the transaction delayed at the operator's side (i.e., the SMSC) without realizing it. For important transactions, we recommend using interactive voice.