Future uncertain for MMS

An Arthur D. Little/Exane report, Mobile Operators: Leaders Hit Back, has cast doubt on whether MMS will develop as an additional market to SMS. ADL/Exane cites the poor performance of Vodafone Japan's Sha-Mail service, an MMS equivalent, as one reason MMS is unlikely to generate messaging and revenue volumes for cellcos similar to those experienced with SMS.

27 February 2004

It also said market studies have found that subs are either uninterested in MMS or unwilling to pay to use it and are concerned about the cost of sending an MMS compared with the cost of sending an SMS.

ADL/Exane found that less than 10% of the surveyed mobile operators' subscriber bases own handsets that are capable of sending and receiving MMSes. Telecom Italia Mobile and Mobilkom lead the pack, each with 7.7% of its subs owning MMS-enabled devices.

While TIM and mobilkom have higher penetration among their subs bases, it's mmO2 that is experiencing higher usage, according to ADL/Exane. Of the 95,000 mmO2 subscribers who own MMS-enabled handsets, 18% are active MMS users, sending an average of five MMSes per month (see fig. 4) and generating an average of €1.90 (US$2.39) per month in revenues.

"MMS volume and revenues are currently insignificant," states the report, which argues that it is likely to be the second half of this year before the penetration of MMS-enabled handsets reaches the critical-mass point of 10-15%. Many cellcos are substantially subsidizing MMS-capable devices, which subsequently accounted for more than two-fifths of all handsets sold in the latter stages of 2003.

Meanwhile, an SMS.ac poll carried out for MM found that more people are equipped to send and receive pictures on their mobile phones (see fig. 1). But considerably fewer (35.48%) actually use this particular capability on their handsets, SMS.ac found