Building on the success of the first edition, "Mobile Messaging Technologies and Services" offers extensive new and revised material based upon the latest research and industry developments. While early implementations targeted person-to-person messaging, MMS has now evolved to facilitate such requirements as the mass delivery of time-sensitive messages for content-to-person messaging. This "Second Edition" exploits the technical maturity of MMS as it is poised to generate a wealth of new business opportunities across the mobile communications sector. The author provides the fundamental technical background required for SMS, EMS and MMS, and supports this with industry cutting-edge developments.

● Contains a revised section on the fundamentals of MMS, including an updated section on GPRS to explain current commercial implementations such as GRX applications.

● Presents the latest developments in MMS standardization, including the design of synchronized multimedia integration language (SMIL) presentations, Digital Rights Management (DRM), transcoding techniques, postcard service and support of advanced multimedia formats.

● Describes the processes for standardizing telecommunications services and technologies (3GPP, OMA, GSM Association, IETF and W3C).

● Provides updated sections on SMS, EMS and heavily revised coverage of the developments in MMS, including MMS interworking and the forthcoming MMS version 1.3.

This resource will be invaluable for application developers, manufacturers, operators and content providers involved in the design and deployment of messaging services. It will also be of interest to practitioners involved in the process of standardizing telecommunications services and technologies. Postgraduate students and researchers will benefit from having access to state-of-the-art findings backed by numerous illustrative real-world examples.

Includes a companion website featuring information on relevant standards, available phones and developers' resources.

The "Multimedia Messaging Service" (MMS) is regarded as the best-of-the breed of proven messaging technologies, surpassing SMS and electronic mail to offer a truly multimedia experience to mobile users. The first commercial solutions appeared on the market in 2002 and the penetration rate of MMS is now quickly approaching the required level for mass-market adoption. By leveraging accessible technologies, MMS has gained wide acceptance from major market players and provides great business opportunities for the whole telecommunications industry. This book introduces usage scenarios and provides a comprehensive description of enabling technologies for MMS, from version 1.0 to version 1.2 (featuring message content classes, video support, online message boxes, digital rights management, etc.). It demystifies MMS standards by clearly illustrating technical explanations with numerous practical examples, from the design of multimedia messages to the interfacing of applications with MMS centres. It sheds light on common implementation pitfalls and known interoperability issues. it is based on the author's own experience as a standardization expert and software architect for one of the major handset vendors, "Multimedia Messaging Service" provides a stimulating practical reference book for network operators, content designers, device manufacturers and developers of messaging applications, and will also appeal to researchers and students.