MMS - the modern wireless solution for multimedia messaging

MMS (multimedia messaging service) provides a multimedia messaging solution in contemporary and evolving wireless communications. Both SMS and email have been widely used for messaging in wireless and fixed networks respectively, but none of these is capable enough to fulfill the present and the future demands of wireless messaging. None of the existing messaging systems can also take full advantage of the recent technological advancements in wireless communications. MMS has been designed in both the 3GPP and the WAP Forum to overcome the known limitations and shortcomings of the existing messaging systems. MMS utilizes the capabilities provided by WAP, GPRS and 3G, which offer efficient use of radio resources and improved connectivity. The paper analyses MMS by pointing out its features and functionalities. Architecture, message structure, encoding, information flow and transport of MMS come under scrutiny, from the point of view of both standardization and implementation, to find the feasibility of MMS in the target wireless infrastructure. According to the comparative study, MMS is equipped not only with the positive features of existing messaging systems, but also with some new ones. A predictive study is also made to outline different expected MMS-based services.