What is MMS?
The Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is as its name suggests the ability to send and receive messages comprising a combination of text, sounds, images and video to MMS capable handsets. The Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) confers the ability to send still images such as mobile postcards, mobile pictures, mobile screensavers, mobile greeting cards, mobile maps and business cards. Additionally, moving images, cartoons and interactive video will also be supported by Multimedia Messaging (MMS).
The trends for the growth in MMS have their roots in the changes that are taking place at all levels within GSM. Enabling bearers such as GPRS, EDGE and 3G are becoming available. Enabling technologies such as Bluetooth, WAP, MExE and SyncML are all initiatives that support this new direction toward the Mobile Internet

Features Of MMS
Using the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) as bearer technology and powered by the high-speed transmission technologies EDGE, GPRS and UMTS (W-CDMA), Multimedia Messaging allows users to send and receive messages that look like PowerPoint-style presentations. The messages may include any combination of text, graphics, photographic images, speech and music clips or video sequences. MMS will serve as the default mode of messaging on all terminals, making total content exchange second nature. From utility to sheer fun, it offers benefits at every level and to every kind of user.
An MMS message can contain one or more of the following:
- Text
- Graphics : graphs, table, diagram, layout
- Audio :
- Images
- Video
- SMIL Presentations (Standing for Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) allows for the creation and transmission of PowerPoint-style presentations on the mobile device.
The MMS standard, just like SMS, offers store-and-forward transmission (instant delivery) of messages, rather than a mailbox-type model. MMS is a person-to-person communications solution, meaning that the user gets the message directly into the mobile. He or she doesn't have to call the server to get the message downloaded to the mobile. Unlike SMS, the MMS standard uses WAP as its bearer protocol. MMS will take advantage of the high speed data transport technologies EDGE and GPRS and support a variety of image, video and audio formats to facilitate a complete communication experience.